We Are Young
by MeganBellaRoseBlack
Summary: Alex Price has started a new school year at a new school five weeks after term has started so is officially 'The New Girl', but she really needn't feel nervous. Head girl Annie Cartwright takes her under her wing and before she knows it, she's settling into life at the North Manchester College quite nicely.
1. We Are Young

**A/n So I wasn't going to start a new fic for a while, but me and the lovely Elle (DressedLikeATartAgain on Tumblr) got a'talkin and this just developed a whole lot quicker than I ever expected. It's completely AU but fingers crossed I've still captured the characters.**

**As I stay at the start of every chapter, enjoy! **

**MBRB'xoxo**

_Tonight, we are young. _

_So we'll set this work on fire._

_We can burn brighter, _

_Than the sun._

_**We are young - Fun.**_

Alex Price looked around the common room that she'd been guided into, her greeny hazel eyes darting from walls to faces to seats to lamp fittings trying to take everything in. She was reasonably used to being thrown in at the deep end and being met with an onslaught of different sights and sounds, it just took her a moment to try to process everything. This new sixth form was completely different from the she had attended for a brief 5 weeks in London and the entire place seemed to ooze a much more relaxed and welcoming feel. This welcoming vibe also extended to the head girl stood next to her, pointing to a doorway just to their left, explaining that it lead to one of the computer rooms.

'There's usually computers free because, to be honest, not much work actually gets done' she told Alex, her eyes bright as her lips broke into another friendly smile and she made her way across the room to show her around the kitchen area. 'Did you bring a mug?' the question passed Alex by unheard, her eyes still flitting around the room, and it wasn't until she saw a pair of blue eyes looking at her and waiting for an answer that she realised she'd even been asked a question.

'Oh, sorry. What?' Alex asked, realising how dopey she sounded instantly. '_Way to creat a good first impression, hey?_' she thought to herself, but the girl next to her just laughed lightly and repeated herself.

'I said did you bring a mug? There'll be hell if you use someone elses, believe me. This is the kitchen, obviously. It's not too great but it's better than the one at most sixth forms.' Alex looked around at the little kitchenette which sat in the corner of the common room, sectioned off with laminated floor as opposed to the carpet that covered the rest of the room. It was a simple, neat counter with a couple of cupboards, a fridge, microwave, sink and toasty maker which sat on the side.

'Yeah, they didn't have a kitchen at all at my last one' Alex smiled. She had been surprised at the schools facilities and even more surprised at how nice everyone seemed to be. On arriving, Alex had assured her Mum that she was going to be fine and so Caroline had pressed a kiss to her daughters forehead and scurried off to work, leaving her in the capable hands of Mr Holland. Holland had introduced her to head girl, Annie Cartwright, and told her to give her a tour before turning back to his computer screen with a wink. Annie had shown Alex the rooms her lessons would be in, introduced her to a couple of her teachers that they had passed on their travels and they had ended up in the common room just before break ended.

'You can come and meet everyone quickly before period 3 if you want?' Annie asked and Alex nodded. After having to move after just about settling into life at a different six form in London, she had been told by her Mum and Dad that they were moving to Manchester, meaning she had to leave her friends and everything she had ever known to live in a place that she really wasn't too keen on the idea of. So it was surprising to her that within being in her new sixth form, she was being welcomed by someone who seemed absolutely lovely. As they made their way over to a small group of girls, she saw numerous faces that were smiling and waving at her.

'Alright?' a small, dark haired girl wearing oversized stripy jumper and leggings greeted her with a massive smile that Alex couldn't help but return. 'I'm Shaz' she told her and shuffled over slightly so that there was room next to her on the blue sofas that were scattered around in a circular communal area that the girls seemed to have claimed a long time ago. Shaz placed the satchel bag that had been sat by her side onto the floor, placed the blue folder covered in doodles on her lap and then patted the spot beside her with a wink. Alex couldn't help but instantly like the girl and sat down, immediately feeling comfortable in the presence of the group. 'That's Phyllis' Shaz told her, nodding towards the girl that was sat opposite them. Phyllis nodded at her with a small smile and gave her a quick 'hiya' before turning back to her phone and finishing her text to her latest boy. Whereas it may have come across as rude from some people, to Alex it felt like she was already one of the group and it was the natural thing to do so she watched Annie sit down and make herself comfortable and then realised that she hadn't actually said anything.

'Oh, god!' she exclaimed with a little laugh. 'Sorry. I'm Alex' she told Shaz who giggled lightly. It was a sound that Alex decided she loved.

'What subjects have you chosen, Alex?' Annie asked, curling her legs up beneath her and arranging her long cardi so that it wasn't stretching.

'Chemistry, Psychology, Law and English' she told Annie just as the bell rang, signalling the start of her first lesson. She noticed that Annie and Shaz had exchanged a happy look at her words and Shaz quickly explained why.

'Brills! Me and Annie do Law and Psychology too!' A wave of relief passed through Alex at the news that she'd have people in her class that she knew and would be able to talk to. Everyone around her were all so comfortable in each others company and she really wasn't liking being the 'new girl'. She had heard a couple of comments about her as people had walked past and, although it was only to be expected, it was unsettling to know that you were being talked about and looked at.

'Where's...S3?' she asked, looking up from her timetable and glancing between the girls around her. Phillis looked shoved her phone in the back pocket of her jeans and glanced over at Alex whilst picking up her bag.

'I'm going past the science block. I'll take you to it' as she walked past, causing Alex to give Annie and Shaz a 'see you later then' grin and jogging to keep up with Phyllis. She got the impression that Phyllis was more 'bull-in-a-china-shop' than the others and the one of the group that was more brutal, but she didn't feel intimidated by her and was glad that she seemed to be making friends already, no matter how childish it sounded to say it.

x-x-x-x

Sat in the chemistry lab, Alex was glad to find that she seemed to be keeping up with what Dr Parkes was saying. She had started the course at her old college and it was apparent that they had been going at similar paces so as the teacher explained about the chemical process that could change salicylic acid to acetylsalicylic acid and thus forming asprin, she was glad to find that she could actually understand what was going on. The boy sat next to her was furiously making notes, trying to write down every tiny detail that was said in handwriting that strongly resembled a childs. After having the experiment that they were going to do explained, the class were assigned a simple distillation to demonstrate how chemicals can change and transform. As Alex gathered her equipment, she found the boy next to her had already brought her over a bunsen burner.

'Oh. Thanks' she told him with a slight smile. She didn't know why, but there was something odd about the boy who stood across from her with his sleek black hair and thick black glasses.

'I'm Jim' he introduced himself, and much to Alex's surprise, held out his hand. She tentatively took it and shook his hand lightly whilst looking him up and down. He had a white t-shirt on under a black and red checked shirt that was undone and the slick smile he was giving her unsettled her a little. Pulling his hand away from his, she gave him a little smile and turned back to her equipment.

'I'm Alex' she told him, glancing up at him and then back down. Jim kept up a continuous flow of conversation as they set up their stuff and lit their bunsen burners without giving Alex much of a chance to respond which suited her just fine. As they began the distillations, Alex noticed that Jims bunsen burner was burning rather enthusiastically when they were supposed to keep it at quite a low level. He ignored her polite reminder that the valve on the bunsen was only supposed to be half open, keeping it off a roaring flame and it wasn't until also noticed his overzealous fire and came over to tell Jim to turn it down, which he did with a 'sorry, Sir'. No sooner had the teachers turned his back, Jim looked over at Alex. 'What's the point in such a wimpy flame, ey?' his sly grin filled his face as he turned his flame up once more. The thought that this was a pyromaniac in the making crossed Alex's mind, but instead of voicing it, she just kept her head down and let Jim talk for the rest of the lesson, concentrating on what she was doing.

x-x-x-x-x-x

'… And I don't really know, I just can't stand him. They all throw themselves at his feet and he barely pays them any attention. If you want to be with someone, surely you'd want them to actually acknowledge you?'

'Well - '

'And every single time he's in the kitchen, he throws something at me! Can you believe that? Whenever he makes tea, he flicks the teabag at me!' Alex had to cough and cover her mouth to stop the giggle of laughter escaping her. She'd been hearing about Gene Hunt for the last fifteen minutes of the lesson after someone had brought up the upcoming rugby match and the conversation was continuing as she'd made her way back to the common room, Jim not leaving her side. Gene and Jim apparently didn't get on very well and from what he was saying, he was the centre of every girls world and whose sole purpose in life was to make Jim's life hell. She wasn't sure how true his words were, but she had her suspicions that Jim was exaggerating just a little. Or a lot. Captain of the rugby team ('He's not even that good') and with a firm group of friends ('I don't know why, he treats them all so badly'), Alex thought that perhaps Jim was just incredibly jealous of Gene, but what she did know was that she would rather not spend much more time in Jim's company.

'Alex! Over here!' Annie's voice floated across the common room as they entered and she beckoned her over enthusiastically. Alex turned to Jim with a look that she hoped was apologetic across her face.

'Sorry, Jim. See you later?'

'Well - ' she patted his arm a little and turned to walk away from him quickly before he could say anything else, shooting Annie a 'thank god' look as she made her way over to the girls sofas. She took a seat next to Shaz again, accepting a cookie that she was offered.

'Enjoy chemistry?' Shaz asked her, glancing over at Jim who was retreating to an empty table in the kitchen area. Alex followed her eye and tried to hold back her smile.

'The lesson was okay... the company... not so much' she let out a sigh as Annie, Phyllis and Shaz laughed at her expression of exasperation and her dramatic eye roll.

'Our Jimbo isn't the most fantastic of people' Annie laughed, sitting down and rifling through her bag for her mobile.

'He doesn't seem to like Gene much' Alex told them with a smile on her face. Shaz let out a sigh as Annie laughed and Alex got the feeling this really wasn't news to them. But then again, she got the feeling that the whole school knew that Jim wasn't Gene's biggest fan. 'So I guess Jim won't be going to the Rugby match this week?' she asked lightly. Annie shook her head and laughed a little 'no'. Annie's attention was quickly ripped from Alex as a blonde boy snuck up behind her, grabbed her around the waist and yelled 'MONSTER' in her ear. Annie's scream caught the attention of a lot of the other teens sat around the room, but they quickly turned back to what they were doing as soon as they saw what had happened as if it were just an everyday occurence which Alex suspected it was. Annie turned and hit the boy hard on the arm whilst letting out a shriek of 'Saaaam!'. The handsome looking boy laughed and took the seat next to Annie, laying his arm around her shoulder and looking over to Alex.

'Alex, right?' he asked. Alex nodded in reply and let out a little giggle as Annie crossed her arms and pretended to sulk next to him. 'I'm Sam' he told her. Alex nodded at the boy. He had a welcoming and friendly smile and the way he glanced down at Annie made it clear he was devoted to her. They made a nice couple, him in his chinos and polo shirt - effortlessly 'cool'- and Annie in a pretty floaty floral top and high-waisted shorts with black tights on underneath. Alex's attention was drawn away from them as Shaz reached over to her and took hold of her necklace.

'I like this, 'Lex!' she said, admiring the charms that were on her long chained necklace around her neck. She seemed to take particular interest in a butterfly with its metal wings bent back to make them look like they were flying.

'Thanks' she replied, surprised at Shaz's familiarity. It seemed a little odd to her that after only a couple of minutes of being in each others company, Shaz would reach out and so closely inspect her necklace, but then she reasoned that although she seemed shy, Shaz also gave of the impression that she didn't really care what people thought and already thought of Alex as a firm friend, so she just watched as Shaz looked at all the different charms on the chain then dropped it back in place and leant her head in the palm of her hand and turned to the conversation Sam and Annie were having.

'There he is' Sam said, looking over Alex's shoulder at the double doors that were in his view. 'Alright, Guv?'

'Tyler, you shit. You said you'd meet me by the canteen'. Alex turned to look over her shoulder at the imposing figure of Gene Hunt. He had a small hint of a smile on his lips as he made his way over to the group and Alex studied his face as he came closer. She wasn't really sure what she had expected from Jims description, but what she was met with was a broad shouldered rugby player in jeans and a smart/casual shirt with a handsome face and a head of blonde, shaggy hair. She could see why someone like Jim Keats would feel threatened by Gene instantly; all eyes were on him as he entered and his presence filled the room with something that just demanded attention.

'And who would this be?' he asked, standing behind Alex and looking down on her with the same smile playing at the corner of his lips. Alex looked up at him from her seat and grinned - she couldn't help it. She could feel herself being watched by a group of girls across the other side of the room but ignored them, telling him she was Alex Price.

'Ohh, we have a posh one' was Gene's response which earned a laugh from the group and colour to rise slightly in Alex's cheeks. She was aware that her accent was different from most the people in the school and Gene's rough and rugged tone made hers sound even posher and she couldn't help but blush a little at his remark.

'Leave her alone, Guv. Not everyone's as common as you' Sam spoke up, causing Gene to narrow his eyes threateningly and mumble 'watch it, Tyler', but the small wink he gave him made it clear he was kidding. Alex looked from Gene to Sam with question in her eyes.

'Why 'Guv'?' she asked. Gene caught her attention again as he puffed his chest out and rocked back on his heels a little as he explained.

'I'm captain of the rugby team. I give them instructions they do whatever the hell I want them to. I'm their Guvnor.' His voice was filled with pride and Shaz let out a small snort of laughter at his show of masculinity.

'Boys, ey' she mumbled to Alex with an eye roll that brought a smile from Alex. Gene's eyes fell back on Alex and he looked her up and down, taking in her black skinny jeans, white vest top and black blazer thrown over the top. The bangles on her wrist jangled as she swept her fringe out of her eyes trying to give herself something to do other than crumble under his intense gaze.

'Where you from, Madame?' he asked her, turning the conversation back to her.

'I moved from London' she answered and Gene raised his eyebrows.

'Oh, la de da, Lady Price' he gave her a tiny mock bow and then moved round so he was stood in front of her. 'Shift yer arse. Come on, move up.' The group laughed at Alex's surprised expression as her and Shaz shuffled up a little, leaving room for Gene to sit next to her on the end of the sofa and to sling an arm along the back of it. It wasn't quite around her, but she felt ever so slightly uncomfortable none-the-less, but her sense of unease soon vanished as the whole group fell into an easy conversation full of light-hearted jibes and carefree laughs. It was safe to say that Alex felt she was settling in very nicely.

_TBC..._


	2. Long Live

**A/n. Sorry for this long A/N (sorrysorrysorry. I hate them but think of it as the nasty admin that needs to be done) but a couple of things that I'd like to say about this fic to clarify a few things that seem to be confusing some people. **

**- This is set in modern day, 2012 in Manchester. **

**- The ages of the group vary from 16 to 18 because they are in years 12 and 13. Alex and Shaz are 16. Chris, Phyllis, Sam and Annie are 17 and Gene and Ray are both 18.**

**- Each chapter is going to have a couple of lines form a (usually) modern song that is from my music collection at the top that relates to the chapter. **

**And finally - I literally know _nothing _about rugby and spent a ridiculous amount of time looking up little details - such as if it's started with a whistle *rolls eyes* - and so if you're a rugby fan, please just accept most of what I've written as artistic licence!**

**Massive thanks to Elle for being the other half of the brains behind this and thanks to all those who have reviewed so far! It's SO appreciated. I reread the last chapter and realised it was FULL of spelling errors and missing words, so have another apology - I know how annoying it is to have the rhythm interrupted by mistakes *rolls eyes*. Anyway! I hope this chapter lives up to what you're all expecting and so, on with the show! **

**MBRB'xoxo**

_You held your head like a hero, _

_On a history book page. _

_**Long Live - Taylor Swift**  
_

The next three days passed quickly and Alex found herself becoming very fond of the group of people that she had found herself in. She came to know how everyone fitted in and what role they played - Annie was smart and was often to be found working through her breaks and her free lessons, catching up on work and coursework that needed to be done, but she was very much the glue of the group. Shaz always seemed to be sat down on the sofas with a notebook in her lap, filling its pages with detailed and delicate doodles. She was most definitely the 'arty one' and Alex found herself drawn to the gentle girl with her choppy hair and large eyes. Phyllis, Alex had quickly realised, was very tomboyish and kept the lads in line whenever they were around with her sharp tongue and willingness to bat them on the arm with her fist. They had all welcomed Alex into their circle and she felt like she'd known them for far longer than the three days that she actually had. The boys were often found sat with them because of Annie and Sam's relationship and their company was welcomed by them all. Gene, Ray, Chris and Sam all had their little quirky characteristics that made them an unlikely friendship group but one that just seemed to work. Chris kept Alex constantly laughing with his daft comments and she'd soon lost count at how many times she'd let out a sigh at Rays comments about the latest female that happened to be in his line of vision.

As they sat together on Thursday lunch, Alex looked over as Gene, Annie and Sam came through the doors after coming out of their Business lesson a little later than usual. Sam held Annies hand loosely but was turned to Gene heatedly discussing the upcoming Rugby match.

'Bamo's better than you think. His tackles are bloody good' Gene was saying as the crossed the room to where Shaz, Chris and Alex were sat.

'He'll be done for foul play within the first 10 minutes!' Sams expression was one of pure annoyance as they argued over who would be playing the cupped his ear mockingly and leant closer to Sam.

'Oh, wait, sorry. Who's captain?' Annie giggled and sat down opposite Alex as Sam mumbled his answer.

'You'

'Right you are. Shut yer trap. Alright, ladies?' he turned his attention to the three of them sat down. Chris looked insulted and corrected Gene immediately.

'Err, I'm here aswell, Guv'

'Point being, Christopher?'

'You said ladies!' he told him indignantly.

'Very observant of you' he winked at him, shoved his bag down on the floor and took a seat. 'You all coming to the match?' he asked, looking pleased at the confirmation that he got from everyone. Except Alex. She didn't really understand Rugby and had never been interested in attending a game before so when she had been asked the previous day if she wanted to come with them, she had given them an unsure 'maybe' and left it at that. She had underestimated how much rugby games appeared to mean to this particular six form, and being in a group of people who were close friends with members of the rugby team and the team captain clearly meant that you were expected to attend as many games as you could. 'What about you, y?' he asked, noticing that she hadn't enthusiastically nodded with the rest of them. 'Going to grace us with your presence?' Alex gave him an unsure look and a half smile.

'I don't know...' Gene looked scandalised at her words and then frowned as Shaz snickered beside her at his expression.

'Too high and mighty to spend extra time with the peasants?' Gene asked, a twinkle in his eyes. Alex smiled and shook her head.

'I don't really get rugby' she admitted. 'I won't know what's going on' Gene rolled his eyes and gave her a look that indicated she was clearly insane.

'You don't _need _to 'get it', you daft mare. You just turn up and cheer us on! Raise morale, give us something to play for!' Ray came and sat down as Gene finished and gave Gene a questioning look.

'Whats this?' he asked, sitting down. Gene inclined his head towards Alex.

'Lady Alex over there is saying she won't be attending the match. Doesn't want to get her fancy boots all muddy' Alex shot him a look and tried to keep the grin off her face.

'It's not that at all, I just don't understand the game. And you keep my boots out of this' she scolded lightly, dropping her feet from the table in front of her and hiding her heeled army style ankle boots as she reached forward and took a sip from her cup of tea and cradling the mug in her hand.

'You don't have to understand the game' Ray frowned as if it hadn't ever occurred to him that people who came to watch _would _understand what was going on.

'That's what I told her!' Alex laughed a little and held one hand up in defeat, keeping the other around her mug in her lap.

'Okay, okay! I'll come. Jesus christ, I didn't think it was such a big deal!' she laughed, drinking down the last sip of tea and placing her vintage looking mug with its delicate rose pattern back on the little table that sat in the middle of their circle of seats.

'There we go' Gene winked at Ray and then turned back to Alex. 'So do I get your handkerchief as a token of your support then?' he teased and then quickly dodged Shaz's bottle of water that Alex had grabbed and thrown at him with a chuckle.

x-x-x-x-x

Four 'o'clock on Friday afternoon and Alex was stood on the sidelines of the school rugby pitch with Annie, Shaz, Phyllis and Chris hopping from one foot to the other trying to keep warm. It wasn't a bitterly cold afternoon yet, but the autumn air was definitely crisp and a little nippy making Alex wish that she had brought either a thicker coat or a scarf. She rubbed her hands together to try and generate some warmth and shifted her weight again as the boys came jogging onto the field and formed a huddle.

'Come on, boys!' Annie yelled with a little jump as she saw Sam look over to her and give her a wink before having his attention dragged back to the team by Gene. The whistle blew and the away team, Lereto College, kicked off, the ball being thrown, bounced and kicked faster than Alex could keep up with. She wasn't sure if Annie and Shaz knew what was going on, but they were cheering enthusiastically none-the-less and Alex found herself enjoying watching the game more than she thought that she would. There was quite a large turn out and a lot of good-hearted cheers and boos from both sides which made for a good atmosphere despite the chilly November wind that was whipping across the pitch. Annie jumped up and down a little on the spot with excitement as Ray got a hold of the ball and pounded down the pitch. The enthusiasm from the girls was completely infectious and Alex found herself jumping up and down with them, cheering Ray on and joining in with the rising level of noise coming from the North Manchester College supporters, culminating in a massive cry as Ray kicked the ball over the line, scoring the first 3 points of the match. Shaz looked over to Alex as she clapped and cheered and gave her a little smile, glad that she was enjoying herself.

'Having a good time?' she asked as Alex caught her eye. Alex just nodded vigorously, smiled broadly at Shaz and then turned back to the game.

x-x-x-x-x

Alex was barely aware of the wind getting colder as she cheered and booed heartily, getting fully involved in the game. Tension was growing amongst the home crowd as the scores remained at 19-24 with the ball closer to the away teams side of the pitch than they really wanted, but the girls (And Chris) cheered loudly as Gene grabbed the ball and made his way back down the field.

'Go on, Gene!' Annie yelled encouragingly as he pushed past the opposing teams defenders.

'Come on, Guv!' Alex found herself yelled at the top of her lungs, her whole body tense as he passed them. Shaz and Chris shot her a surprised look at her use of his nickname and Alex herself wondered where it had come from - she'd only every called him Gene before - but she shook off their glances and kept her eyes firmly fixed on the team captain. As Gene gripped the ball and threw himself on the ground over the line scoring an extra 5 points, she felt herself curl her fists into balls and punch the air, cheering as loudly as she could along with the rest of the NMC supporters and the whistle was blown to signal the end of the game.

'We won!' Chris yelled, opening his arms to a thrilled Shaz who hugged him tightly. Annie and Alex both kept their eyes on the boys though, Annie waving and clapping at Sam when she managed to catch his eye. Gene stumbled to his feet from where he lay on the floor and received a 'manly' pat on the back from Ray as his eyes darted over the faces in the crowd. Finding Alex, he gave her an exaggerated wink and an uncharacteristic smile that caused her to grin back at him and lift her hands up and towards him to show her clapping and cheering him. He seemed to appreciate the gesture because he gave her the smallest of bows and then turned to where his team were congratulating each other and thumping Gene on the back.

x-x-x-x

After going down to the local Mcdonalds and getting something to eat to celebrate their success, the group stood out in the street saying their goodbyes. Shaz was trying to convince Alex to go out with them on Saturday night with her and Annie, and Ray was whacking Chris on the shoulder for being such a poof because of the daft things he had been saying. The group dispersed as they each made their way home leaving Gene and Alex alone to walk in the direction of their houses together.

'Enjoy youself, Price?' he asked her as they made their way off the high street and down one of the lesser pathways. Alex beamed at him and nodded.

'I actually did'

'No need to sound so surprised. Watching me run up and down was the highlight of your week. Other than meeting me which was the highlight of your month. Obviously.' he told her, his eyes fixed forward and a pout on his lips. Alex marvelled at how he could have such a teasing tone to his voice and yet remain looking so sullen but she supposed that his angry looks were one of the reasons why there was a whole group of girls who swooned over him.

'In your dreams' she laughed, shaking her head in denial. The bitter wind had picked up and whipped her long waved hair around her face and she shivered and sucked air in through her teeth as she reached up to move it out of her eyes.

'Cold?' he asked, noticing that she pulled her arms right around herself, hugging her military jacket tight to her body as soon as she had adjusted her hair. Her eyes darted to him and then focused back on her feet as they walked as she shrugged her shoulders unconvincingly.

'It's a little chilly' she laughed.

'That's what you get when you don't wear any bloody clothes. You'll turn into a flaming icicle at this rate!' Gene scolded, waving a hand at her leggings, loose blue top and thin black jacket. A small smile played at his lips and Alex looked over at him with a questioning frown on her face.

'What?'

'Pricicle' is all Gene said, confusing Alex even more.

'What're you on about?' Gene let out the smallest of laughs, momentarily wiping the pout away and transforming his face.

'You'll get so cold you'll turn into a Pr-_icicle._' He was clearly finding himself hugely amusing and Alex couldn't help let out a little snort of laughter at his horrific joke, but she also had the feeling he wasn't going to let this go very easily. She was, however, distracted when his hand went up to the scarf around his neck and started to pull it off. 'Here' He held the deep blue scarf out to her but she shook her head and told him that she really was fine. Gene tutted in response and kept the scarf folded in half as he had had it before as he flicked it round her neck and let go so that it lay over her shoulders. Alex shot him a disapproving look but looped tied the scarf around her regardless, appreciative of the extra warmth that it was providing her already. 'Daft mare' Gene mumbled, shoving his hands back in the pockets of his heavy coat as they continued walking.

'Bloody man' Alex mumbled back, equally as annoyed. The little look she shot him out of the corner of his eye caught the identical look that he was shooting her and she couldn't help but start laughing at their childishness.

'This is me' she told him softly, slowing outside a gate that topped a path way across a neat little garden leading to a reasonably large looking town house. It didn't look much different from the rest of the houses that lined the high end street but Gene decided that it suited her anyway. He would expect nothing less than a pricey looking house from the girl in front of him and he turned to face her, looking down at her. He stood a couple of inches above her now that she wasn't in her heels and she was looking at him through her lashes slightly, but he was pretty sure that she wasn't aware of it.

'I'll walk you to the door?' he asked and Alex laughed a little, a questioning look on her face.

'If you want' she giggled with a slight eye roll as she unlatched the gate and walked up the garden pathway with Gene following behind her.

'I don't want to be accused of not being a gentleman, Price. If you were to fall and crack your little head on the pavement, you'd no doubt sue me for negligence' he nodded matter-of-factly as Alex looked at him doubtfully.

'I'm not an idiot, Guv'

'You're common sense isn't all that great from what I've seen, actually. Head full of brains but useless at life' Alex's jaw dropped in mock insult.

'You watch what you're saying! I'll be your boss one of these days and I'll make sure you get no holiday leave'. Gene only shook his head no and they fell into a comfortable silence. Alex became aware that she was still wearing his scarf and reached up to pull it off, but Gene shook his head again.

'Just give it to me on Monday'. Alex nodded and began to rifle for her bag.

'Oh, shit. I've forgotten my keys' she muttered and then frowned as Gene gave her a look that clearly said 'I told you so' which Alex ignored and lifted her hand to knock on the front door.

'Well, I'm glad you weren't completely miserable watching today' he told her. Alex nodded and smiled.

'I enjoyed it. Thanks for walking me home' before Gene could reply, the front door opened and Alex's Mum stood there.

'Where's your k- oh. Hello' she stopped herself, looking at Gene with a smile. Gene inclined his head to her and said a quiet hello.

'This is Gene, Mum' Alex told her mother, trying to bite back a laugh at the overall awkwardness of the moment.

'Hey, Gene' Caroline said again, aware that Gene was looking less than comfortable.

'Hey, Mrs Price' he turned back to Alex. 'I'll see you on Monday then'. Alex smiled a yes at him and crossed her arms across her, swinging her shoulders side to side slightly. A moment of silence passed over the threesome and then Gene rocked back on his heels, gave the hint of a smile, said 'See ya' to both of them and then turned to walk away from the mother and daughter. Alex walked past her Mum and into the house laughing quietly to herself and shaking her head a little after exchanging a look with her mother.

'He seemed nice' Caroline told her, her tone dripping with amusement.

'He is' Alex agreed, pouring herself a glass of water and leaning against the kitchen table.

'I don't recognise that scarf' she said with a raised eyebrow and her eyes sparkling. Alex gave her Mum a knowing smile, realising exactly where she was going with this. Forming a fake shocked look, she brought a hand up to cover her mouth in feigned surprise.

'Really? That's because it's Gene's!' she dropped her fake 'o' of a mouth for a smile which Caroline returned. 'He's just a friend, Mum'. Caroline raised her eyebrows and looked at her daughter with doubtful amusement.

'If you say so.'

_TBC..._


	3. Balance

_Stick by me and I'll tell you that there's light at the end. _

_Stick by me and I'll show you that all you need is a friend_

**_Balance. Billy Lockett. _**

Shaz had been texting Alex non-stop throughout all Friday evening trying to convince her to come out with them on Saturday night and Alex had eventually caved, agreeing to meet them at Annie's house to et ready. The plan was to get ready at Annies and then to go for the night clubbing, then crash back at Annies, but Alex told her parents that it was a girly sleepover where they would just spend the night watching movies and talking. Tim didn't really seem too keen on the idea of Alex spending the night out, but Caroline had told him that it was a good thing that she was making friends so quickly and that they should let her go. Besides, having to tell her friends that she wasn't allowed out might be a bit embarrassing for her, and so Tim had finally agreed and let Alex go to Annies. Shaz had told her to bring something nice to wear, so Alex had spent an age looking through her wardrobe trying to decide what classified as 'nice' - she'd never really been clubbing before and so choosing something to wear was a big deal to her. She'd text Annie and Shaz asking what they were going to wear and they'd both told her to just bring a bunch of clothes over and they would help her pick something out so on Friday night, Alex had packed a couple of dresses and a couple of tops in a bag and left it by her bedroom door ready to go, excitement bubbling in her stomach. She didn't know how she'd be able to get into the club because she was only 16 and didn't have any fake ID, but Annie had assured her that it would all be sorted and that Gene would take care of it. It struck her as weird that it would be Gene who sorted it all out, but she trusted Annie and so accepted that Gene, would in fact make sure that she would get in for 18.

Lying in bed that night, Alex had removed her makeup and tied her hair up and was browsing the internet on her Iphone before she went to sleep, when a message popped up from an unknown number.

_Hey Pricicle. You out tomorrow night, yeah? Need to know numbers. Gene xx_

She wasn't sure how Gene had got her number, but she saved 'Guv' in her phone anyway, and typed out a quick reply.

_Yeah, I sure am! You're getting us in then? How're you going to manage that? xxx _

She really was curious as to how he was going to get 3 underage girls into a club, but she had no doubt that he'd be true to his word. She went back to browsing through her Tumblr page, growing increasingly frustrated at the awful glitchy app, as she waited for a reply which came slower than she expected, arriving 20 minutes after she had sent her message.

_I have my ways ;) You just turn up with your party knickers on and your face dolled up and I'll get you in xx_

She smiled to herself and replied with;

_I'll make sure that they're clean and ready for display ;) Anyway, I need my beauty sleep! See you tomorrow :) xxx_

She smiled a little to herself as she sent the message and then settled down to sleep, leaving her phone on her bedside table. As she was drifting off, her phone vibrated against the wooden surface, jolting her awake and pulling her away from sleep. With barely open eyes, she patted around until she found the offending object, winced as the bright light burnt her retinas until they adjusted and then smiled at the reply Gene had sent her.

_Save me a dance then, I'll make sure that noone takes advantage of drunk Alex. Night. xx_

She laughed and placed her phone back down without replying and drifted back into the land of dreams with the hint of a smile on her face.

x-x-x-x

'God, I hate this song!' Shaz moaned as Nikki Minaj 'Starships' came on Annies Ipod that was sat in her speakers filling the room with music. Annie let out a snort of laughter but didn't change the song, instead just turning back to the mirror and continuing applying her eyeliner. Alex wasn't too keen on the song herself, but it struck her that it didn't really matter what was playing. She grimaced as she took a sip of the vodka and coke that Shaz had handed her as soon as she had arrived, the sharp taste of the vodka hitting the back of her throat and burning ever so slightly. She contemplated putting more coke in it, but decided it wasn't really worth the journeu through the obstacle course that was Annies bedroom and so just took another gulp and forced it down.

'Are you sure this is okay?' she asked Shaz, smoothing down the dress that they had picked out from the bag of clothes she had brought round. It was a pretty little lace dress with a high neckline but an equally high hemline, the top part clinging to her body and then flaring out, gathering just above her hips and then flaring out a lot giving her a killer figure emphasized even more by the belt around her waist, and endless legs that ended in a pair of Annies black heels. They'd accessorized it with a mix of their bangles and a long chain necklace with a heavy metal owl charm on it. Annie laughed loudly as she took a mouthful of drink and then ran her eyes up and down Alex for the thousandth time.

'You look gorgeous. Quit worrying' she reassured her and then turned back to the mirror yet again. Alex rifled through her makeup bag and began applying her blusher as Shaz stood away from the mirror and sat on the bed with a drink in her hand.

'Where're we meeting the boys?' she asked, leaning against Annie's headboard. She looked lovely in a bold red dress with lace fingerless black gloves and chunky black jewellery, her feet in a pair of gorgeous chunky black boots. Annie paused her mascara brush and met Shaz's eye in the mirror.

'Good point. I'm not sure actually. I'll text Sam... where's my phone?' she began looking around the floor where she was stood and let out a mumble of frustration when she couldn't find it. 'Can you call me?' she asked Alex who had her phone next to her. Alex giggled at Annie's tipsy state.

'I'll ask Gene, don't worry' she told the girls, taking a sip of her drink and writing out a text to Gene, oblivious to Annie and Shaz exchanging a little look. She opened the last message that he had sent her (_First round of drinks on Ray, he's just lost another bet ;) xx) _and tapped out a reply. _  
_

_Ha! Perfect! Where shall we meet you? Pick us up from Annie's? xxx_

_'_Been texting the Guv a lot then, Alex?' Shaz asked with her voice dripping in hints and insinuations. Annie was looking at her with an equally intrigued expression and Alex quickly grasped what they were suggesting.

'Yeah, but we're just friends' she told them with an eye roll and flicking her wrist dismissively as if physically swiping away their ludicrous suggestions. She had always been naturally flirty and she was sure that the suggestive texts that she had been receiving from Gene were just the same meaningless banter.

'Uh-huh' Annie told her with one eye brow raised. She sat down next to Shaz and checked that the curlers were hot enough. 'Hurry up, I'll do your hair'. Annie, despite not seeming it, was quite a party girl and loved a good night out with her friends and getting ready was all part of it so she loved to be the one who helped with hair, makeup and clothes. Her 18th birthday was coming up and she'd not decided what she was going to do for it yet, but it was one of her main topics of conversation and so Alex wasn't surprised when she turned the conversation to her 18th as she sat in front of her and handed her a hairbrush.

'I don't know, I'll probably just go to Club Thirty Two if it's any good. Gene swears that it is, but it depends on tonight' Club Thirty Two was where they were headed tonight and Annie had finally managed to pull from Sam that Gene was friends with one of the doormen who was on the same rugby team that he played for at weekends and so he was going to turn a blind eye to the underage girls. It had quite a reputation locally as being absolutely amazing and so Alex was excited to see what all the fuss was about. With her refilled drink in one hand and her phone in the other, she sipped on the liquid waiting for Gene to reply. She could feel the alcohol beginning to have an effect on her and the heady feeling of tipsyness was washing over her, making her limbs feel ever so disconnected from her - it was a sensation that she was really rather enjoying and as her phone buzzed loudly at her, she smiled down at the screen.

'Gene again?' Shaz teased.

'He's only replying to my question' Alex told her, but her cheeky wink that she shot Shaz caused both the girls sat on the bed to burst out laughing and Shaz to give a little wolf whistle.

_Be there in about 15? I'll give you a ring when we're outside. Be ready! xx_

_'_They'll be here in fifteen minutes' Alex told them, chosing not to reply to Gene and so dropping her phone on the floor and raising her glass to her lips.

'Better drink up then' Shaz laughed, clinking her glass with the bottle of vodka that she had in her hands and leaning over to top both Annie and Alex's glasses up again. The music played loudly and Alex sang along as Annie worked quickly on her hair, turning it into a mane of brunette curls that tumbled over her shoulders.

'Gorgeous. Right, I think I'm ready. Do I look okay?' Annie asked them yet again, standing up and turning to her friends with her arms outstretched, presenting herself. Her dress was a gorgeous modern take on a floaty 70's dress which fitted both Annie's body and personality to perfection - delicate but bold. Her strappy sandle heels went perfectly with her ensemble, and her flicked out her was different but gorgeous. Alex nodded in response to her question and assured her that she looked lovely. Annie smiled and grabbed her camera off the side where it lay. 'Pictures then!' she laughed. Shaz giggled and jumped up off the bed, downing the rest of her drink and wrapping an arm around Annie as she set up the self-timer on the camera and put it on the cabinet in front of them. Alex joined them and the compulsory semi-drunk photoshoot began, until Alex's phone started ringing and she received a demand from Gene that she get her scrawny arse outside '_now'. _Bags were packed hastily 'Phone? Check. Money? Check. Keys? Check' and they hurried out the door and to the bright red car that sat at the end of Annie's driveway with music blasting from it. Gene had decided that he'd drive the short distance there and they'd walk the distance home and that Ray would bring Gene to pick his car up the next morning.

'Take your time, ladies' Gene yelled sarcastically out the drivers window as they made their way down the driveway towards the car giggling and Annie and Shaz climbed in the back with Ray, leaving Alex to get in the passenger seat next to Gene.

'Chris, Sam and Phyllis are meeting us there' Ray told them, smiling and flicking the ash from his cigarette out the window. Alex nodded in acknowledgement and turned to Gene who was looking her up and down.

'Were they clean then?' he asked her with a twinkle in his eye. Alex, much to the three sat in the back's confusion, laughed loudly and hit Gene lightly on the arm.

'Sparkling and ready for display' Gene and Alex smirked at each other momentarily before Gene ripped the handbreak up and threw the car on to the streets of Manchester.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Chris, Sam and Phyllis were stood outside Club Thirty Two waiting for them to arrive and greeted them with wide smiles.

'Alright, mate?' Chris nodded to Ray who took the cigarette out his hand and took a deep drag, inhaling the nicotine deep into his lungs and then breathing the trail of smoke out slowly through his lips. Chris frowned at his empty hand and snatched the fag back of him, the frown still on his face.

'Twat' Ray mumbled, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his coat and stamping his feet against the floor to keep away the evening chill. Chris took another puff and let the smoke billow into the air as he made his way over to the girls.

'You look nice, Shaz' The boys laughed at his comment but Shaz beamed shyly, dropping her head a little and kicked at the floor.

'Thanks, Chris' her soft voice almost got lost in the conversations around them and the pumping music that could be heard blasting within the club, but Chris heard and was thrilled that she hadn't laughed at him like the others had. He took another puff of the cigarette in his hand to give him something to do, but stopped as Shaz gave him a disapproving look and let out an obvious cough which caused him to look awkward and throw the rest of it on the floor, earning a pissed off look from Ray at the wastage. They were all soon distracted though when Sam pecked Annie's cheek quickly and took her hand as he turned to the group.

'Ready?' he asked them and received a whole load of nodding heads in response, so made his way up the steps and in through the doors. Alex could feel her heart beating a little faster with excitement as she followed the group. She wasn't really sure what to expect and she vaguely thought that perhaps if hadn't been on the brink of tipsy, she'd probably be quite nervous about entering through the double doors and into the assault of noise and smells and bodies but as it was, the alcohol in her system kept the massive smile fixed on her face and she turned to Phyllis who was walking beside her to share a happy look. Phyllis laughed a little at Alex's obvious happiness and then disappeared into the crowd as they were ushered past the doorman. Shaz and Annie quickly took to the dance floor, mixing with the sea of bodies and dancing to the latest Rhianna song that was blasting, making Alex's internal organs vibrate in time with the baseline. Ray and Chris stood with her still, looking around at the multicoloured lights that flitted over them and then flashed reds and greens and blues.

'Oi, Ray. I believe you're getting the drinks in' Gene told him, making his way over to the bar without looking back to where Ray was frowning a little, his eyes flitting around and scanning over every girl who was within a couple meters of him. Alex followed Gene through the crowds and then leant against the bar as Ray caught up with them and ordered three jagerbombs from the barmaid that nodded and busied herself with the shots and the drinks ready. Alex watched what she was doing carefully - she wasn't really sure what a jagerbomb was, not having been out like this before, but she tried to look like she was completely at ease as she leant forward on the bar.

'£7.75, love' she told Ray, holding her hand out ready for the money and giving Ray his 25 pence change quickly and moving onto the next customer. Alex looked at the shot of dark liquid and the half full glass of Red Bull that she'd been given and then shot Gene a questioning glance, not really sure what she was supposed to do with it. Gene caught the flash of cluelessness that swept over her face and smirked. He then picked up his shot, dropped it in the Red Bull and downed the lot in a couple of gulps. Ray did the same behind him, and Alex laughed at Rays wince as the jager hit the back of his throat.

'Come on, Price. Bottoms up' Alex gave him a half hearted withering look before copying their actions and downing the two liquids. The bittersweet taste rinsed over her taste buds and she could see Gene watching her to see her reaction, but she found that she quite liked it and smiled at both the boys.

'Another three here, please, love' Gene motioned to the bar made and indicated the three of them.

x-x-x-x

Alex was feeling positively buzzy as she finished off the last of her vodka and coke and placed the glass down on the nearest table. She couldn't really remember how many drinks she'd had but she could feel that it had definitely had an effect, giving her the confidence to sway her hips and move with the music on the dance floor with Shaz. But having said that, by looking around her as the clock approached 2am, there were countless girls that were in a far worse state than herself and she was sure that a couple of them that danced around her would rapidly become worse if they kept up their rate of drinking. She'd seen a couple of familiar faces in the crowds of people as she made her way around the dance floor and danced with people that she had never met before, spending a couple of minutes smiling into the faces of strangers and then moving on either to find Shaz or get another drink at the bar. She passed a couple wrapped around each other as she made her way over to where there was a gap on bodies at the bar and did a double take as she saw them part, realising it was Ray and Phyllis looking drunkernly at each other. She shook her head, rolled her eyes and then continued on her quest for another vodka and coke.

'I'm surprised to see you here, Alex. I thought you were too young' Alex turned to face the voice that was becoming familiar to her.

'Jim!' she gave him a smile and ordered her drink from the barmaid that was appearing to get less enthusiastic about her work as the night went on.

'Don't worry, I won't tell them' he said with a conspiratory wink at the fact that she shouldn't be in the club and then got his wallet out as the barmaid placed her drink in front of her. 'I'll get this' he payed for her drink before she coud and Alex smiled at him and clinked the edge of her class against the glass that was in his hand already.

'Thanks'. She took a sip and then looked at the face of the scrawny boy in front of her. He didn't appear to be with anyone and she momentarily thought that it must be awfully lonely to not have any friends, but the thought was wiped from her mind as 'Drive By' by Train came blasting over the speakers. 'Ah! I love this song! Come on, I'll be your friend, Jim' she told him happily, pulling him onto the dance floor and moving to the music as Jim stood next to her with only the barest of movements but with his eyes never leaving Alex's body. Her short dress flared out showing the tops of her thighs as she moved but she just didn't care, her head ever so slightly spinny.

As the song finished, Alex was breathing heavy and laughing, trying to grab at Jims glasses and put them on her own face but not being very successful as he easily dodged her uncoordinated swipes. As she made one attempt and accidentally knocked his cheek lightly, she giggled covering her mouth with her other hand, but her laughter died away as Jim grabbed her wrist and held onto it a little too tightly to be comfortable. She tried to twist out of his grip but he held her firmly without saying anything, staring into her eyes with a small hint of something sinister that was quickly wiped away as his eyes were drawn to just over her shoulder. The grip on her wrist got tighter she let out a little yelp of pain which was completely ignored by both Jim and Gene.

'Jimbo. Fancy seeing you here' Gene told him, his expression completely flat and deadpan as Alex flicked her head around to see Gene standing behind her, shoulders drawn back and chest puffed out. Jim didn't move, his grip on her wrist frozen as Gene came up to stand beside Alex, not touching her but making it clear that he was there to make sure that Jim scurried off as soon as possible. 'I think you should probably let go, don't you, Jimmy?' he asked and Alex immediately felt the hand around her wrist loosen and let go. She kept her eyes on Jim as his focus flicked from Alex to Gene and back again, then mumbled a 'see you later, Alex' and scurried off into he crowd.

'You wanna keep away from that creep' Gene told her and rolled his eyes at her cheerful, drink tinged smile and nod.

'Okay' was all she said and then felt herself being pulled across the dance floor and out into the night. A large group of smokers sat outside by the door creating a large cloud of tobacco fog that Alex coughed dramatically through until Gene pulled her away from the smokers and around the side of the club where there was a quieter area, free from people and disturbances. Gene pushed her down onto a small wooden bench and she complied happily, flopping down and taking the weight off her feet.

'Sit there and clear your head' he told her, turning his back and leaning against the wall beside the bench she was sat on. Alex stared at his back and tried to focus a little more. The cold breeze was quickly bringing her back to her senses and she hoped that he wasn't mad at her.

'I wish I brought your scarf with me' she laughed and beamed up at Gene as he turned and looked down at the drunk girl in front of him.

'Practically naked again' he told her, looking at her long bare legs that stretched out in front of her. Alex laughed and shifted her hand up her thigh to move her dress slightly, giving him a tiny glimpse of a pair of blue knickers. Gene couldn't help it; he burst out laughing at her cheeky wink and cheerful laugh. When he first met her, he thought that she'd be the typical prissy London girl, all 'holier than thou' and to la dee da to associate with the Manchester rough, but she had already proved him wrong and he found himself moving to sit next to her on the bench. 'French silk?' he asked her with his eyes shining with laughter.

'Nah, H&M' Gene laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders pulling her into him to give her an uncharecteristic hug which Alex accepted, placing a hand and her head on his chest, enjoying the unexpected closeness. There was a comfortable silence as they sat together, Alex's head filled with thoughts that were racing past her, most of them too fast for her to even throughly process and so she decided to voice some of them, aware that she'd probably not make too much sense but not caring.

'You know, I didn't want to move to Manchester. I hate Manchester, I mean I did, but I quite like it now. I mean, I've not even been into town yet shopping but Shaz says there's some good shops so that'll be nice - I need some new jeans. But I don't mind school. There are some nice people' she turned to him and poked his chest lightly. 'Don't worry, you're one of the nice ones'

'Well ta very much' Gene said, his eyebrows lifted in amusement and let her babble on.

'Welcome. But other than that, I don't hate it. I just mildly dislike it. I miss London. I miss trains' there was a small pout on her lips and Gene looked at her with pure confusion on his face.

'We have trains! We're not bloody backwards!'

'Not the underground kind' Alex explained, putting on an exaggerated frowny face which she had to stop because she was laughing at Gene shaking his head at the rambling girl under his arm.

'You two ready to go?' Annie and Sam peered around the corner, Annie giggling as she leant on Sam and leant back to shout at someone who was out of sight.

'Found 'em!'

''Bout time!' came Shaz's voice yelling back and Alex felt herself being pulled to her feet by Gene.

'Come on you' he told her as she linked her arm through his arm and leant some of her weight on him that he took without thinking twice about. His eyes met Sam's as they shared an exasperated look at the two girls that were hanging off their arms and the out-of-tune tones of Shaz singing Paradise by Coldplay drifted down to them. 'Walking them home?' he asked, indicating the girls, and Sam nodded as Annie let go of his arm and skipped towards Shaz, joining in her singing.

'No telling where they'll end up if we don't.'

_TBC..._


	4. Something Good Coming

**An I hope you're still enjoying this! Thanks to all those who have reviewed, alerted and favourited already! Updates may not be as frequent as they were in the first couple of chapters because my brother is home from the army so I'm spending time with the family...But I shall try and get a chapter up roughly every other day :) **

**If you can spare a moment, please drop a review in the handy little box provided below - all writers know how amazing it is to get a review and it really does mean a lot!**

**Enjoy! **

**MBRB'xoxo**

****_I know that look on your face, _

_but there's something lucky about this place. _

_And there's something good coming for you and me. _

_Something good coming, _

_There has to be. _

_**Something Good Coming - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.**_

'Come on, darling. School' Caroline said softly as she opened her daughters bedroom door and woke her up. She could hear the grumbles of protest that Alex gave and smiled softly. 'Yeah, yeah, you don't want to wake up. Shake a leg' she shut the bedroom door and Alex rolled over to switch on her radio to try and get her motivated to get out of bed. As Chris Moyles filled her room, she tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes and dragged her tired body from her comfortable bed. Her phone buzzed and she lazily picked it up to read the message from Shaz.

_I hate Mondays_

Short but sweet. Alex smiled in agreement, typed out a quick '_God, same :( Meet you in the common room? xxx' _and made her way downstairs for some breakfast.

Caroline stood stirring sugar into two cups of coffee as Tim sat at the kitchen table munching on some toast with one eye on the newspaper that was laid out in front of him.

'Morning, sleepy' Tim greeted her, moving his paper out the way of Alex who had taken a seat at the table and quickly dropped her head on it, leaning on her crossed arms and letting out a moan of protest against being awake.

'Morning' a muffled response came through her arms and Tim let out a small snort of laughter as Caroline shook her head with amusement.

'Looking forward to school?' Caroline asked, bringing the two mugs of coffee over and giving one to Tim, stealing a piece of his toast from his plate. Alex lifted her head from her arms and rubbed her eyes.

'It'll be okay' she said indifferently reaching over to pick up Tims mug before he had the chance to, blowing on it and taking a sip. Tim looked outrage, glancing between Alex and Caroline who were both laughing quietly.

'Oh, you're your mothers daughter all right.' he pouted with a shake of his head. Caroline gave Alex a wink through a mouthful of toast.

'Hungry, Lex?'

'Only a little' Alex told her mother and Caroline nodded but her attention was drawn to something out the window just over Tim's shoulder.

'Jesus, what's that?!' Tim turned sharply to see what it was his wife was staring wide eyed at, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary, his eyes scanning over the usual trees and bird feeders.

'Cheers, Dad' he turned to see Alex walking out the kitchen with a piece of toast hanging out her mouth, shooting him a massive smile over her shoulder and Caroline smiling innocently at him.

'Sorry darling. I must have been mistaken' she said with a shrug and then pulled his paper towards her to read the days headlines.

x-x-x-x-x

Alex dropped herself down into one of the free seats with a grumble.

'Hiya' she greeted the group with and received a mummer of hellos in response. They were all looking a little worse for wear, none of them getting a great amount of sleep over the weekend but it was a unanimous decision that it had been very much worth it.

'Recovered from Saturday?' Annie asked her with a grin and Alex let out a laugh and shared a smile with Shaz.

'Just about'. The three girls had all spent the night at Annies and slept away a good proportion of Saturday morning. As Alex had woken up, she was relieved to see Annie bringing in three glasses of water and she drank it down quickly in an attempt to rid herself of the horrific dry, scratchy feeling in her throat.

'I think I'm dying' was all Alex had been able to croak as Shaz stirred from beneath her duvet.

Now, as they sat in the common room, Alex was feeling a lot better than she the previous morning but she was still suitably groggy and from the half asleep on Shaz's face, she wasn't the only one. Annie was particularly chirpy and Phyllis was, once again, engrossed in her phone. The sight of Phyllis reminded Alex of the last time she had seen her...

'What's happening with you and Ray, then Phyllis?' she asked with her eyebrows raised suggestively. Phyllis looked up from her phone with a completely indifferent look on her face.

'Again, Phyl? _Really?_' Annie laughed, making it clear to Alex that this wasn't the first time Ray and Phyllis had got together on a night out. Phyllis just shrugged.

'Nothing's 'happening'. I was drunk and he was there' she shrugged. Annie laughed and rolled her eyes.

'He seems to be 'there' every time we go out' she teased and then turned to Alex to explain. 'As soon as those two have a drink in them, they're all over each other. It's getting ridiculous' Alex nodded in understanding and gave a teasing 'ohhh' as Ray and Gene walked in and made their way over to the girls.

'Shut your mouth, Raymondo. You're talking shite'

'She's in the palm of my hand, Guv!' Gene reached over and smacked Ray on the arm with a shake of his head.

'Who is?' Shaz asked them as she dropped her feet from the chair Ray was about to sit on.

'Ray here thinks that Jeanette is about to drop her knickers for him' Shaz laughed and looked doubtful.

'Jeanette? That's never gonna happen, Ray' Ray leant forward in his seat, his elbows propped on his knees and gave a lecherous smile over Shaz's shoulder to where Jeanette Rivens was sat, fluffing her blonde curls hair and making sure that it was as big as possible, the bright hot pink dip-dyed ends standing out against her ultra tight, low cut black top. Jeanette waved cheerfully to Elaine who had just walked in through the doors next to where the group was sat. Elaine had platinum blonde hair styled in her usual over-the-top bouffant hair and was wearing a clinging v-cut top with a pair of denim short shorts. She waved enthusiastically to Jeanette and glanced around her, her eyes falling on Alex and her face darkening dramatically. Alex frowned slightly as she saw the dark look pass across the girls face and then her jaw dropped as Elaine shot her a very clear 'slag' and flicked her hair.

'What did you say?!' Phyllis was up on her feet before Alex even had time to process what Elaine had said. Elaine spun on her heels with her arms crossed, oozing sas.

'You heard me' she shifted her weight to one side, her hip sticking out and her jaw set. Jeanette had seen that there was something happening and had quickly stood up to make her way over to Elaine.

'Wanna explain what you mean by that?' Phyllis demanded as Gene stood up to stand by her side, his face thunderous.

'Oh, we all know what she got up to at the weekend' Jeanette spat, nodding at Alex with her eyebrows raised in a look of superiority. Alex and Shaz shared a confused look as Ray sat back watching the argument unfold.

'And what was it that she got up to this weekend?' Jeanette gave Gene an incredulous look.

'Oh like you don't know, Gene. Giving her your very special welcome to the school, were you? She's only been here a week for gods sake, and she's already working her way around the boys' Gene took an angry step towards Jeanette as she continued. 'I don't get why you'd want that' - she indicated Alex with a nod of her head - 'over someone like me, anyway' she flicked her hair with an air of selfworth and then fixed her eyes on Gene.

'A 'special welcome'? What the hell are you on about?' he demanded and Jeanette and Elaine both let out a bitter snort of laughter.

'Come off it, Gene. Everyone knows she had her tongue down your throat and her dress around her hips!' the common room had come to a hush as all eyes were drawn to the group that were arguing over the new girl. Gene's face was one of thunder and Shaz's jaw dropped and she looked to Alex who was looking absolutely mortified and was shaking her head in denial.

'That's bullshit' Gene snapped.

'It's only you that has an 'Open All Hours' sign around their neck, love' Phyllis gave Jeanette a disapproving glare. Shaz moved to sit next to Alex, seeing that she was looking downcast and stunned at the accusations.

'You okay?' she asked her quietly and Alex nodded a little, her eyes on the floor. She had barely said two words to either Jeanette or Elaine in her time at the school so she wasn't sure why they seemed to be attacking her. It occurred to her that she had heard a lot of talk about Jeanettes group of girls being the ones Keats had spoken of when he said that they were crazy about him and he barely acknowledged their existence so maybe they were jealous she had become friends with him so quickly? She didn't know, but she wished that they would turn and walk away. As Jeanette glared at Alex, the bell rang signalling the start of the first lesson of the day, and the pair raised their noses in the air and shot a final nasty look at Alex before flouncing out the door with one last word of 'whore'.

'Twats. You alright, Pricicle?' Gene asked Alex, moving to stand beside her as she grabbed her bag and stood up, wishing the floor would swallow her up and stop the whole of the common room staring at her and whispering.

'Yeah. Yea, fine' she mumbled and dived for the door, wanting to get out the room and to her English lesson as quickly as humanly possible.

x-x-x-x-x

Alex had decided a couple of minutes into her first lesson that she liked English at NMC. The teacher - Mr Phillips - was enthusiastic and seemed to be very keen on getting the students involved with whatever it was they were learning as opposed to standing at the front of the class with the dreaded PowerPoint presentations that some teachers were so fond of. As Alex had first entered the classroom, he had clapped his hands together delightedly at his new students and ushered her over to the front of the class with him.

'Now, as we know, it's tradition for new students must give a twenty minute speech about themselves and their favourite book. So Alex. When you're ready' he beamed at her, crossing his arms and standing back and waiting for her to start speaking. A mumble of laughter ran through the class and Alex heard herself make a couple of completely incoherant 'uh, ah, bu- er' sounds before Mr Phillips started laughing and walked towards her.

'I kid, I kid, Miss Price. I can't take the risk that you'd be a better teacher than I, so let's forget the speech and you go sit down' he gave her a friendly wink and directed her to an empty seat near the back of the class where a dark haired boy was sat with his eyes fixed on Alex. 'Peter, look after our newest classmate, will you' Peter nodded and gave Alex a smile that she returned as she sat down next to him.

Now, as Alex took her seat next to Peter, she tried to muster a smile but all she wanted to do was keep her head down and avoid all contact from people who had seen the argument that morning over her.

'Alright?' He asked, but Alex took is as rheotorical and just sat down, getting out her english books and pencil case. Peter let out a little sigh and leant forward to Alex so that the tables around them couldn't hear his whispered words. 'Everyone knows what they're saying isn't true. They're just pissed that Gene's taken a shining to the new girl' Alex looked up at him with surprise and corrected him.

'Gene's not 'taken a shine' to me' she told him, aware that her tone was a lot haughtier than she had intended it to be, but Peter just smiled at her again.

'Seems to me he has, but who am I to judge?' He held up his hands in defeat and inclined his head a little and Alex couldn't help but crack the smallest of smiles. Peter saw the ghost of her grin and reached up, miming the tying of a knot and then pulling on a string.

'Oh. Oh. We've caught it. Now we just need to...pull...it...out. Nearrrlllyyy there' he pretended to keep tugging on her smile until Alex couldn't help it and stopped trying to hide it. Her face split into a grin despite her best efforts and Peter threw his hands up in celebration, giving quiet cheers to himself. 'There it is! And the crowd goes wild. Yeahhhh. Whoooo' Alex shook her head and cast her eyes downwards. She'd found Peter completely charming from the moment she had met him and she was thankful to him for cheering her up a little now.

'Thanks, Pete' she told him gently. Peter rolled his eyes.

'It's _Peter_. But you're welcome, Alexandra' he smirked at the irritated look she shot him.

'Pete suits you more'

'Alexandra suits you...' His words faded away as he registered Alex's raised eye brow of doubt 'Maybe not. Fine, Alex'. Alex nodded with approval and turned to the front of the class as Mr Phillips began his lesson. She was aware of Peter ripping a bit of paper out of his notebook and she glanced over at what he was doing as the class went quiet and focused on their teacher. In a boyish but neat writing she saw Peter write -

_07299680014 - in case you ever never need another smile_

And he drew a big grinning face which was winking cheekily next to it, folded the paper in quarters and then slide it over to Alex and looked up to Mr Phillips without looking at her. She looked from the paper to him and then back again, trying to seem completely indifferent and then slowly took the piece of folded paper and slid it into the back pocket of her jeans, noticing the corner of Peters mouth turn up as she did so.

X-x-x-x

As lunchtime, Alex was hesitant to go back to the common room, instead choosing to dither around the canteen spending longer than she would deciding what to have for her lunch. Eventually realising that she was getting a couple of odd looks from one of the dinner ladies, she grabbed a chicken tikka panini, paid for it and made her way to the common room, passing Peter on the way out of the canteen doors.

'Ohh bad choice' he hissed through his teeth with a twinkle in his eye, nodding towards the panini in her hands. Alex paused, not putting the piece she had torn off in her mouth as she heard what he had said. 'Should have stuck with the coronation chicken' Alex shook her head.

'I don't like coronation chicken' she told him with a smug look. Peter just shook his head and grinned.

'You'd like this one. It's the only thing this school does well' he leant towards her and said in a stage whisper. 'Don't tell them I said that.' Alex laughed at his conspiratorial wink.

'Maybe tomorrow' she told him and then began walking again, Peter falling in step beside her.

'You going to the common room?' Alex nodded and popped the piece of panini in her mouth at last. After chewing it a second, her face arranged itself into a grimace which didn't go unnoticed by Peter who couldn't bite back his grin.

The pair of them walked through the common room together and Alex felt a huge sense of relief that she wasn't walking in by herself and that the looks that she was getting were being shared with Peter.

'Well I'll talk to you later. Text me if you need a smile' Alex dropped her head back a little and let out a small laugh as Pete walked away from her towards his group of friends. Alex spotted Ray and Gene stood in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil. She made her way over to them and leant against the counter next to Ray.

'Make me one, will you' Alex told Gene as he picked up the freshly boiled kettle and began pouring the water into his mug.

'In your dreams, Pricey' he scoffed. 'I'm not even making Raymondo one' he proved his point by placing the kettle down leaving Ray to make his own tea.

'Pathetic' she told him teasingly, getting her mug out the cupboard and throwing a tea bag in it as Gene fished the bag out of his and turned, appearing to prepare to flick it.

'Whatever, Price. 5 points for the head?' Alex looked confused until Ray fished out his teabag as well and copied Gene's stance. Ray nodded in agreement and Alex had to cover her mouth as the tea bag went flying towards the back of Jim Keats' head missing him by milimeters and falling to the floor. Ray thumped Gene on the arm, carefully lined up his shot and flicked the tea bag, hitting the back of Jims chair.

'You're so cruel!' Alex told them both trying to keep the look of disapproval on her face which was barely disguising her amusement. She knew that it was mean of them both to be using Jim as target practice, but she had heard Jim badmouth the pair of them so often and the sinister glint in his eye that she had seen that saturday made her forget herself and hook the tea bag out of her own cup, press it against the edge of the mug and balance it on the spoon.

'In 3...2...1...' Gene counted down and Alex narrowed her eyes and aimed, hitting Jim squarely in the back of his head. All three of them quickly spun around and away from Jim, fixing their eyes on their cups of tea and trying to disguise their laughter. The boys looked at Alex as she grabbed the air with her fist and brought it into her body in a celebratory signal and shot them both a superior look. 'Maybe next time, boys' she laughed, put the milk back in the fridge and took her mug over to where the girls were sat with Sam and Chris.

x-x-x-x

As Alex changed into her pyjamas that evening, she noticed a piece of paper fall out of her jeans pocket. Momentarily confused, she quickly realised it was the note that she had been given in English and she considered throwing it away for a second, before reaching for her phone and typing his number into her contacts. She then paused for a second, contemplating sending him a text. He really was lovely and surely it would be rude to just ignore him?

_Thanks for today, you don't know how much you helped :) Alex xxx'_

The response was almost immediate.

_You're welcome. Someone has to keep that beautiful smile on your pretty face ;) xx_

Alex smiled down on her phone, thinking that his message was a bit forward, but as she reread it, she realised that she really didn't care.

_TBC..._


	5. Something Beautiful

**A/n This chapter was mainly written on my iPod and so please forgive any weird spellings/grammatical errors! Thanks to all those who have reviewed/favourited/alerted, and thank you to my lovely Elle for the help that she provides for every chapter, even if she is not mentioned!**

**Enjoy!**

**MBRB'xoxo**

_Hey now, this is my desire. _

_Consume me like a fire,_

_Cause I just want something beautiful to touch me. _

_I know that I'm in deep cos I am down on my knees,_

_Waiting for,_

_Something beautiful. _

_**Something Beautiful -Needtobreath**_

The three girls, Annie Alex and Shaz, were all sat in Costa coffee with bags at their feet and their arms cupping mugs of steaming hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows. It was early Saturday afternoon and they'd been shopping for the last couple of hours, moving from shop to shop and trying on whatever caught their eye. But after a heavy shopping session, a sit down with a hot drink to chase away the bitter cold was just what was needed. Alex placed her phone down on the table and beamed at Annie's recount of Sam's latest romantic gesture. He had brought her a little voodoo doll keyring that was a little string man holding a heart and was supposed to ensure that she was always loved and cared for by the people around her. The company that made them had a whole selection, each doll looking different and with their own individual meanings and Shaz and Alex both looked at the little doll now on Annie's keys and smiled. Sam wasn't one for grand romantic gestures and standing up, declaring his love for her to every passer by, but he did buy her little charms and trinkets quite often and it was clear that he adored her - and she him. From what Alex had heard, they had wasted a long time getting together because of a number of misunderstandings and crossed wires, but they were happy now and she supposed that all that mattered. Alex's attention turned from the doll to her phone as it buzzed beside her and she replied to the text she had received quickly, hiding a secret smile from the girls behind the edge of her mug, a contented sigh slipping from her lips as soon as she felt the steaming liquid thaw her out.

'I need to pop into the Apple shop later, if that's okay?' Alex asked them, to which they both nodded. 'I need to get my iPod screen repaired' Shaz snorted with laughter quietly and raised her eyebrows in a 'you think' manner. She knew full well the state of Alex's iPod - it had been dropped the week before and the dreaded spiderweb cracks had formed across the screen - but her look was missed by Alex who was looking down at her phone again and this time the look of amusement on her face was missed by neither of her friends.

'Good god, can you stop texting Gene for five seconds?!' Annie scolded her and rolled her eyes at Shaz. 'this is a girls day out, not a flirt-with-the-rugby-captain day out.' Alex was mildly surprised that she had assumed it was Gene she was texting but she only had half an ear on what Annie was saying as she typed out her reply. Pressing send, she looked up at Annie and Shaz and realised she had clearly missed them saying something and it was her turn to speak.

'Sorry, what?' Annie gave an exasperated sigh.

'Whats Gene saying that's oh so captivating?'

'Gene's not saying anything' she told Annie smugly, her facial expression clearly meaning 'so there. Suck on that' but there was still a smile ghosting her lips. Annie and Shaz shared yet another look; this one surprise.

'Who is it then?' Shaz asked her, intrigued. Alex briefly contemplated not telling them because there was nothing going on between Peter and herself, but she had already seen how gossip and rumours could be spread so quickly, but then she reminded herself that she was sat with two of her best friends and that they'd say nothing if she asked them not to.

'Pete Drake? He's in my english class'

'Peter?! Why?' Shaz asked. She'd known Peter years, them both having been in the same classes in lower school and although he was perfectly nice, it was a bit of a surprise that it was he who Alex was texting so incessantly.

'Because...' Alex didn't really have an answer for that. Why did she text anyone? Why did ANYONE text anyone? 'because we're friends' was what eventually came out her mouth but the looks of doubt that passed across Annie and Shaz's faces pushed her to explain further. 'No, really. We're just friends. He is lovely, though...' the tone of her voice indicated that there was the possibility of it going further and it struck Alex that the thought of it doing so was not entirely objectionable. Her and Peter had been texting night and day since Monday evening and many times his messages had caused her to laugh out loud. In class, they had started speaking more and there was often an underlying flirtation that hadn't been there before but there had been no suggestion of them actually getting together despite the amount of times their texts would end with '_ ;)_ ' . Alex had found him to be utterly charming. He was intelligent and actually contributed to conversation past the 'oh yeah's and 'uh-huh's that she had found a lot of boys liked to converse with, and then there was the fact that he knew exactly how to make her laugh or crack a smile even when she was trying her best not to. And, like herself, he had ambition; he had his mind set on being an author and, although he would give her very fee details, had told Alex that he had started writing his first novel. And so under Shaz and Annie' expectant gazes, she decided that if Peter were to suggest they go out somewhere alone or ask her on a date, her answer would be a definitive yes. Shaz now sat next to Alex nodding her head.

'Yea, he's really nice. He's pretty funny. You could do worse' she gave a little wink and Alex shyly dropped her gaze down to her mug on the table just as her phone buzzed again.

'And quite a speedy texter apparently' Annie added lightly as Alex shot her a smile and read the message.

'Whats he saying?' Shaz asked, leaning to get a view of Alex's phone but failed as she moved it out of her friends view. Alex gave a jokey 'ah ah ah' no and scanned her eyes over his text once again to get her reply in her mind.

_Ahhh I see. Don't spill it down you or you'll ruin your clothes ;) Have a good time though, and don't forget to get me something nice! (I like those keyrings with my name on them :P) xxxx_

Alex looked up to Shaz who was pretending to sulk and not being allowed to see the messages.

'Calm down. He just said to have a good day and to get him something nice' she told them trying to dismiss his demand for toys and trinkets as jokiness but seemingly not convincing her two friends.

'And are you going to buy him something?' Annie teased. Alex let out a small puff of laughter.

'No I'm bloody not'

x-x-x-x

_Hey :) How was training? Break any bones? xxx_'

Alex had meant to text Gene earlier in the day but had been distracted whilst shopping and then had spent some time with her Mum, so it wasn't until early evening that she managed to ask him how his rugby training had gone. She knew that he wouldn't text her first - it wasn't his style - but she enjoyed their conversations and she considered them good friends now.

_I'm a pro. I don't break bones. Not too bad though. Bloody cold xx'_

Alex smiled. She had thought of Gene as she had pulled her scarf tighter around her neck when they had been in town. She didn't fancy standing out in the autumn cold in any form of sports kit and being shouted at to 'GO GO GO GO GO' thank you very much.

_Silly me. Should have known ;) Yeahh, rather you than me on that one. I'll stick to sitting indoors drinking hot chocolate I think xxx_

_That's because you're too fancy to get down and dirty playing games. Rather sit sipping Champaign than getting your fancy knickers cold ;) xx_

Alex wasn't sure what the obsession Gene had with her knickers was, but it made her laugh every time. He was still convinced that she was much fancier than she actually was and would refer to her fancy, french, classy, frilly, extravagant,hoity-toity, la-de-da underwear at every possible opportunity, despite Alex's objections that she wasn't posh. She'd soon given up denying that she was fancier than Gene and had started to play on it.

_Sip it? Champaign? I bathe in Champers! It's fabulous for my skin ;) xxx_

_Doesn't surprise me, Bollinger-knickers xx_

And there it was again. She had a feeling she'd never escape his light-hearted jibes, but she did think that if he ever stopped teasing her, she'd miss it a ridiculous amount.

x-x-x-x-x

Monday at school, the drama of the argument of the previous Monday seemed to have been forgotten by all except Jeanette, Elaine and their group of girl friends. Their conversation turned to their dislike of Alex as she walked past them that morning but she had quickly learnt to ignore them and their bitchy discussions, walking past them and towards her friends that were smiling at her in greeting. She saw Peter sat with his friends and he gave her a small wave and a smile that she returned and then turned to Phyllis who was sitting nearest to her.

'Oh!' something occurred to her and Alex turned on her heels towards Peter and made her way over to him. He was surrounded by people that she either didn't know or had only seen and not spoken to, but they all seemed friendly enough. 'Pete, I meant to ask you before but I forgot. Was the essay in for today or Wednesday?' One of Peters friends sniggered at her calling him 'Pete' even though they got a punch in the arm whenever they did the same, and Peter shot him a withering look before looking back to Alex.

'Today, I think. Why?'

'Oh, shit. I've done just over half but I forgot and thought it was for Wednesday. Have you?' Peter nodded.

'Don't worry, Phillips is okay with homework. He'll just tell you to bring it to him tomorrow' he smiled reassuringly a her and Alex looked a little surprised.

'Are you sure?'

'Yeah, seriously. Don't worry' Alex grinned and nodded, hoping that he was right. It wasn't like her to forget to do whatever homework she had been set, but this essay had completely slipped her mind until the night before and by that time she had been too tired to even really care.

'Awesome. Thanks, Pete' she turned with a smile, feeling a lot chirpier, and heard Peter telling her 'see'ya' as she walked away. As she passed Jeanette again, she felt 4 pairs of eyes on her.

'Sinking her claws into Peter now, Judy' came the remark. Judy Lewis had moved from California the previous year and was well up there with the bitchiest of them. She thought remarkably highly of herself and definitely considered herself to be exotic and fabulous. And from the look on her face now, Alex could tell she considered Peter hers. It was true, Alex had seen the pair of them together a couple of times chatting, Judy flirting outrageously but Peter barely returning her obvious passes. Judy was undeniable pretty with delicate features and fire engine red hair which made her seem larger than life despite being quite short and petite in stature, but she could be cutting and had a sharp tongue.

'She better think again then' Judy replied to Jeanette giving Alex a killer look as she passed and the bell rang to signal first lesson.

X-x-x-x-x

In English class, Alex looked up at Mr Phillips with a regretful expression on her face when he came round to collect the homework from the students.

'I've not finished it, Sir' she mumbled to him, worried about how he would react despite Peters reassurances. Mr Phillips sucked a breath through his teeth and shook his head at her.

'Is the book not to your satisfaction, Miss Price?' The essay that they had been set was to compare the character profiles of Sugar and Agnes in 'The Crimson Petal and the White' - a Victorian prostitute and the mental ill wife of a failing London business man. Alex adored what she had read of the book and shook her head vigerously at Phillips' question.

'No, Sir! I love it. I just completely forgot about the essay because we're still unpacking and sorting the house out' she white lied. Phillips nodded and took the over-exaggerated angry look off his face, replacing it with a smile.

'Alright, Alex. Bring it to me tomorrow break time?' Alex nodded and Phillips moved onto the next student, taking the sheets off paper held out to him. Peter turned to Alex with a smug look on his face which she rolled her eyes at.

'Don't even think about it' Peter raised an eyebrow. 'Pete. I know what you're going to say. Don't eve-'

'I told you so' Alex let out an exasperated sigh and a withering look. 'I mean, I told you that's what he'd say and boom - that's what he said' Alex pinched her lips together in a half amused pout.

'Yeah yeah yeah' she said dismissively, waving her hand as if batting away his words.

'What can I say? I'm all-seeing' he teased her.

'Oh yeah, what am I thinking then?'

'You're thinking 'ohh Pete' - because you call me Pete - 'Ohhh Pete you bloody wonderful person'' he said with an awful impression of Alex's accent and female voice. Alex snorted with laughter and shook her head, looking down.

'Not even close'

'Lies' Peter winked as Phillips reached the front of the class and clapped his hands to get the classes attention. Alex didn't reply, only shook her head in denial and kept the smile on her face.

X-x-x-x

Sat with Shaz at break time, the pair waited for the rest of the group to arrive from their lessons discussing whatever popped into their heads. Shaz was currently telling Alex about her Aunty who had stayed with them for the weekend but Alex was only half listening as she looked around the common room. Her eyes landed on Peter who was talking to a boy sat opposite him and throwing his phone in the air and then catching it. His eye caught Alex's and he winked at her but looked down at his phone before she was able to respond. Instead, she focused on what Shaz was saying for a second before her own phone buzzed and flashes indicating a message.

_Fancy going to the cinema on Wednesday? You can buy the popcorn as a thankyou for being so kind ;) xxx_

Alex could feel his eyes on her as she read the message and her stomach flipped, a snort of laughter escaping her. She only thought about it for a millisecond before replying.

_Sure :) but think again. You're buying the popcorn ;) xxxx_

_TBC..._


	6. Heart's A Mess

**A/n Sorry about the late update with this - I have family down at the moment and it's been a real struggle to find time to write. This chapter wasn't originally going to be _anything _like it turned out to be, but I felt there needed to be a bit of time away from Pete and besides, Gene was getting impatient waiting for his scenes ;) **

**A special thanks to those guest reviews who I'm not able to thank personally, and another big thanks to _all _reviewers. I'm blown away by the response to this! **

**Enjoy this semi-fluffy, semi-pointless chapter! **

**MBRB'xoxo**

_Pick apart the pieces of your heart, _

_And let me peer inside. _

_Let me in where only your thoughts have been. _

**_Heart's a mess - Gotye. _**

'Bloody hell, no wonder you stay so scrawny. I don't think I've ever seen you eat but you're always bleedin' complaining about being hungry!' The line between Gene's eyebrows was deep as he frowned at Alex. Her stomach had rumbled loudly and she had clutched it, saying how ravenous she was and how crap the canteen food was.

'It's not my fault' she pouted at him with a small giggle. She was curled up on one of the blue sofas with the most horrific smells surrounding her which were wafting over from the kitchen where a variety of students stood shoving chemical tasting meals into the microwave to heat up, each one of them filling the common room with another overpowering scent.

'Sure it's not'. She could practically hear him roll his eyes at her and she shot him her best withering look that bounced right off of him. Ray, who sat beside Gene, gave out a heavy sigh and tapped his foot loudly on the floor.

'I'm bloody starving. Need to finish my bleedin' PE coursework though, or Wallace is going to fail me' There was a strong look of resentment on Rays face at the mention of his teacher and he looked anything but pleased at the prospect of having to spend his entire lunch time writing about the ins and outs of muscles and lactic acid build up etc.

'I did tell you to do it before' Annie piped up which only deepened the scowl on Rays face.

'I know but I couldn't be arsed to! Waste of pissing time!' Alex let out a small snort of laughter and shook her head slightly at Ray in a 'no hope' kind of way. Annie was right, she'd be telling him for weeks that he'd be better off doing it now and then he wouldn't have to cram it all in at the last minute, but he'd always shrugged her words off and gone back to chewing on the end of his pen with his feet up on one table or other. Gene ignored his friends mumblings, brushing him off as a lost cause and turned back to Alex and their previous conversation.

'Wanna go down town?' Alex raised an eyebrow and smirked.

'I think you'd better clarify what you mean before people get the wrong idea there, Gene' she was rewarded with a burst of laughter from Annie and one of Gene's very rare - and very fleeting - smiles. She had learnt that with Gene, his amusement was usually shown through a twinkling eye or a witty comeback but occasionally he would let slip a genuine smile which she had come to love and collect.

'Would you care to accompany me to the local Tesco, Lady Price?' Alex smiled and ran her tongue across her top lip quickly.

'Sounds splendid. Now?' Gene nodded and Ray looked up at him whilst gathering his papers, memory stick and iPod.

'Get me something, mate' he rummaged through his bag quickly and pulled some coins out from his wallet, handing them to Gene. 'Chicken and Bacon sandwich, smokey bacon crisps and a coke. The meal deal, yea?' Gene looked at him blankly and then slowly shook his head.

'You twat' was all he said and then turned, heading for the common room doors, Alex following behind him cheerfully.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Alex liked Gene's car. He had been saving for it ever since he got his first job and it was his absolute pride and joy that he cared for like an extra limb, yet drove like a crazy man in. She knew that she should be concerned with his seemingly reckless driving and his panache for hand-break turns and breakneck speeds, but she found that she just wasn't. As soon as she got in the car with Gene, adrenaline coursed through her veins but she felt safe and knew that he was a skilled and careful driver, despite appearing very much otherwise. The red Audi had been brought by him at a cut price from a friend of a friend and he had spent hour upon hour restoring it and doing it up until it was something that he was unbelievably proud of and Alex climbed in it now, she felt the now familiar thrill pass through her. Bypassing her seatbelt, she reached over to fiddle with the buttons between them, switching from the radio to whatever CD Gene had in the player and turned it up, waiting to see what would play. Her eyebrows shot up and she turned to Gene as the opening bars of Florence and the Machine began playing. Without even glancing at her, Gene threw the car into reverse and then slammed it forward.

'It's a mixed CD. Quit with your judging looks'. Alex let out a huff of a breath half way between laughter and a sigh and turned to look out the windscreen, her head bobbing from side to side in time with the music. Her hand began to tap the double beat out against her leg as it kicked in and she smiled as she started to sing a long.

'The dogs days are over. The horses are coming, so you'd better ru-u-un' Gene knew exactly where this was going and he stopped himself from rolling his eyes as the music became infectious and her volume turned right up. 'Run fast for your mother and fat for your faaatheeeeeer'. People glanced over at the speeding car as it glided out the school gates and down the roads, heading into town.

'Quit your bloody noise, Pricicle' he scolded, reaching over to turn to the music to drown out her catawalling, but knowing that he was never going to shut her up. As he should have known, Alex just increased her own volume, shifting so that she was sat upright and alert in her seat, a massive smile on her face. She cranked open the window beside her slightly so that the wind rushed in and picked up her hair, throwing it carelessly about her face causing her to give up her attempts of taming it and letting it whip around her however it wanted to.

'And IIIIIIII never wanted anything frooomm youuuuuuu' she sang along enthusiastically, highering her voice to a screeching sound that doubled as her best Florence impersonation. 'Except eeeeeeverythiiiing you had and what was left after that tooo.. Ohhhhhhh'

'Jesus' was all Gene mumbled, giving up trying to stop the noise coming from his left and instead shooting a glance across to the girl beside him. She was shaking her shoulders in time to the music and swinging her hands about. Her eyes were currently closed as she soaked up the music and there was a massive grin on her face that left Gene feeling that little bit happier. The short journey to the local Tescos ended with Gene swinging into the parking space closest to the store front and switching off the engine quickly so that the music cut off midsong and Alex was left singing along loudly to nothing.

'Run fast for your - ... Wanker' she told him, picking her bag up and climbing out of the car.

As they entered Tesco, Alex made her way over to the cold section which was piled high with an assortment of wraps, salads and sandwiches. Her eyes scanned over them and she shifted her weight to one foot as she waited for something to jump out at her that she wanted. She was barely aware of Gene picking up Rays requested Chicken and Bacon lunch and finding himself a BLT until he was stood beside her, impatience etched into his features.

'I'm not going to spend all week waiting for you to find the sarnie with the lowest calories' Alex looked at him with surprise, pulling her eyes away from the Hoisin duck wrap in her hands.

'I'm not sure what to have'

'What's wrong with that?' he nodded towards the wrap and Alex frowned with indecision.

'I don't know...' she just didn't really fancy it, so she replaced it on the shelf and picked up a ceaser salad, looking at it closely.

'Jesus, woman. It's lunch not a bloody life changing decision' Alex chose to ignore him and picked up the wrap again, comparing the two items in her hands. Gene sighed and turned on his heels with an impatient frown. 'Fuck this. I'm getting some fags' he mumbled, wandering off to the counter to buy a pack and pay for his lunch. Alex barely glanced at him as he walked away, turning back to what she was going to eat.

By the time that Gene had got back to her, plastic carrier in hand, she had decided that she'd rather not eat anything from the cold shelf and was ready to go in search of something else.

'Where's the humus?' her question earned her a miffed look and she realised quickly that she would have to find the humus by herself. 'Go wait in the car if you want. I'll be there in a minute'

'A minute my arse. I'll stay with you and make sure you don't take the three hours you would if I weren't here hurrying you along, lady' he scoffed, following her down the aisles stacked high with products that occasionally caught Alex's eye making her stop and look at them momentarily before moving on. As they turned down one aisle, past a stack of chocolates that filled the end of the row, Alex's face lit up with childish glee and Gene instantly felt uncomfortable. They had walked into the toy aisle and Alex was already laughing lightly as she pressed the buttons on a baby toy which emitted a tinny rendition of 'Old McDonald'.

'Seriously?' was all Gene said as she moved onto a kiddies till for playing shop with, typing random numbers into it and pressing down on the set of scales used to weigh the plastic veg with before moving on again. She glanced back at Gene who was trailing her with very little enthusiasm and she laughed at his un expression.

'You don't like pressing all the buttons? I never had any of this stuff when I was a kid' she explained, reaching out to feel how soft the Eeyore in front of her was briefly. Gene shook his head.

'You poor, deprived little posh tart. No I flaming well don't 'like pressing all the buttons'. You're pushing _my _buttons at the moment though, I'm telling you that' he grumbled which only worked to amuse Alex more. She could easily detect the teasing in his voice and she had to turn and hide her smile as she spotted another customer walking past the pair of them, giving her a shocked look as she overheard Genes apparently pissed off words. She had noticed the looks of passerbys a couple of times when they had been in public - sometimes with friends, sometimes alone - when Gene would throw some cutting remark at her, or she would come up with an impressive put-down. Others people who didn't know them must have thought that they meant the words that they said, and it amused Alex to think what on earth they sounded like to random people who were oblivious to the joking twinkle in his eyes or the happy curve of her lip as they exchanged insults.

'How very dreadful of me' she giggled and picked up a Bop It! that was lying at eye level.

_Twist it! Pull it! Pull it! Bop it! Spin it! Bop it! Pull it! Flick it! Whoa! Da-da-da, da-da-da da daaaa _the Bop It! in her hands screeched as she failed to 'twist it' and lost the game.

'Shit'

'Yeah, food. Come on' Gene moaned, finally losing his patience a little and taking the damn thing from her hands, throwing it back on the shelf and pulling her out of th etoy aisle and towards where the salads were kept.

Caramalised onion humus, breadsticks, a bottle of conditioner, two packs of makeup wipes and a book later, Alex and Gene headed back to the car with their items.

'How the hell do you manage to spend what should be a _quick_ trip last-' he checked his watch 'over half an hour?' Alex chuckled at his oblivious expression and opening the passenger door.

'I didn't know what I wanted to eat' she shrugged. She had, at first, been unsure of what exactly it was she wanted for her lunch but in the end she had been unable to stop herself from trying to see how long she could linger in the shop for. Gene's annoyance had been too much to resist and she had decided that she would see how long it would take for him to snap and drag her out of Tesco. By the time he had eventually broken and told her in no uncertain terms that she was _not _going to be looking for anything that she 'oh, I just remembered I need'ed, and that it was time for them to leave. Now. She had gladly followed him over to the self service checkout and had barely been able to stop herself screaming with laughter as Gene told the machine that no, he did not have a bloody clubcard and _no _there was no unexpected item in the fucking bagging area. Now, as they sat in the car with the music turned right up again, Alex stared at his profile. The rugged bone structure matched his personality so perfectly - rugged and masculine - that she wondered momentarily if she was wrong about him having a sensitive side. But she quickly dismissed the thought that he didn't as she reminded herself that she had seen the very occasional hint of a softer Gene Hunt. Her attention moved from his eyes as it was brought down to his lips as they quietly mumbled along with the words to 'You need me, I don't need you' by Ed Sheeran and it struck Alex strange that he would drop his guard that little bit to allow her to see the teenage boy with the with the steely front singing quietly along to the music blasting in his car. Not have a sensitive side? The thought that he was void of a gooey centre suddenly seemed obscene to Alex and she hoped that she would further see the side of Gene that noone else did. She smiled softly to herself as she tore her eyes away from his face and looked out the front window once more, this time not singing along with the music, instead chosing to listen to the barely audible sound of her drivers singing.

Gene, however, almost buckled under her stare. He was acutely aware of her green eyes studying his face and it was all he could do to stop himself turning to her or telling her to bugger off with her fixation. He wasn't sure exactly what was stopping him from doing so, but he felt that perhaps he ought to let her study his face in such detail and not let her know that he was aware of every second that ticked by in which her eyes were still on him. Instead, he allowed himself to tune into the music that was filling the car and he found himself mumbling along with the words of the ginger kid that was singing.

'See me lose focus as I sing to you now. I can't, no, I won't hush, I say the words that make you blush...' eventually he felt her gaze lift from him and he saw her turn to the road out of the corner of his eye, her body relaxing into the back of the passenger seat and a comfortable atmosphere filling the speeding red vehicle.

_TBC..._


	7. Gotta Keep Smiling

**A/n Sorry about this Pete central chapter! I can promise that he's important and there'll be Galex good times at some point ;)  
Please spare a moment to drop a review if you have the time! **

**Enjoy!**

**MBRB'xoxo**

_Boys will be boys. Girls will be girls. _**  
**

_It's a mixed up, muddled up, messed up world. _

_Are you taking the mick, cos ain't life a bitch sometimes?_

_**Gotta keep smiling - Scouting For Girls.**  
_

Alex had been looking forward to her and Pete's date for a couple of days and had decided well in advance what she was going to wear - her favourite black skinny jeans and a navy blue blouse with a white swallow print on it and pussy bow detail. It reminded her of the things that were worn in the past and she always felt that she had a touch more confidence when she was wearing her more 'vintage' items; pussy bow blouses, chunky jumpers and off-the-shoulder tops. As the day of the date came and the time crept closer and closer to the time that she had arranged to meet Peter, she felt the familiar stirring of butterflies awakening in her stomach. Soon she was applying a thin line of liquid eyeliner to her eye lids, a touch of a natural pinkish blush to her cheekbones and a very subtle colour to her lips and checking that she had everything she needed in her handbag. Peter had told her to meet him at the cinema at 4 so that they were in their seats for when the film started at 4.15 and so at twenty to four, she left her house and began the walk to town. As she walked, she glanced down at herself and wondered if she had perhaps overdressed a little. Her Mum had said that she looked 'lovely, darling' but now as she passed the local Spar on the corner and received a rather appreciative look from a dark haired teen leaving the shop, she thought to herself that maybe she looked like she had made too much effort. There was nothing worse than seeing girls that had clearly spent hour upon hour applying makeup and fluffing their hair to impress someone. Alex was ready to admit that yes, she had spent some time ensuring that she looked reasonable for Peter, but she prayed that she didn't look too done up. But come to think of it, maybe she was _under _dressed? She had worn these jeans to school multiple times and they weren't exactly dressy, and although her blouse added a touch of formality, it was far from fancy. What if she turned up and Peter had made more of an effort than she had and she looked scruffy in comparison? A small frown line appeared between her brows and she shook her head every so slightly at herself to rid her mind of the ridiculous thoughts. 'He won't mind what I'm wearing. This'll be fine' she told herself as she began to walk through more built up areas, indicating she was getting further into the city. Alex had been unsure as of what to wear when Peter had first asked her to go see a film with him and so had text Annie who had told her to wear whatever made her feel comfortable and fabulous; well what she was wearing now fitted that criteria so she'd probably be okay? Anyway, it was too late to change anything now so she may as well stop panicking about it.

She became aware of the cinema in the distance and took her phone out of her pocket to check if she was okay for time or if she would need to walk a bit quicker. The screen flashed that it was 3.56 and a small envelope appeared indicating a new message.

_Have fun with Petey! Try and pay SOME attention to the film ;) xxx_

Alex smiled at Annie's message and rolled her eyes a little, choosing not to reply yet; she'd do it when she got back home. She wasn't really sure about what to expect when her and Peter were in the cinema not having been on a proper date before, but she was pretty sure that they wouldn't spend the entire time snogging in the back row. Although, you never know... But there was definite trepidation that shot through her stomach each time she though about the upcoming couple of hours. Would it go well? She'd only really spoken to Peter during class and via text and she was very well aware that people could completely change when they were in different environments so there was the thought, in the back of her mind, that although she liked him whilst in class, she may find him completely repulsive out of school. And then of course there was the thought that _she _would be the one who aggravated and annoyed him. Maybe he wouldn't like the Alex that he was met with outside of their thus-far text and lesson world. Before she was able to delve further into the ins and outs of how she would act, speak and breath whilst on the date, she reached the cinema and had to hold back a little giggle as a very sat-nav'esque 'you have reached your destination' played in her head. Stood outside the steps of the Odeon, Alex glanced around to try and find Peter, but he was not to be seen. He hadn't actually specified in their plans where arounds _precisely _he was going to meet her, and so the thought struck her that perhaps he was already waiting inside for her. Walking through the double glass doors, she passed a couple about her own age and felt their eyes on her and found herself hoping that Peter was just waiting for her in the entrance of the doors so that she didn't look so lonely, but when she quickly scanned the faces of the people around her she found that she was alone and waiting. Doing what all teenagers do when they have little else to do and don't want to look completely awkward, she took out her phone and tried to look immensely interested in the nothingness that was occurring on her screen. Texting Peter and asking where the hell he was was considered but quickly dismissed as quickly and so an early reply to Annie's text was typed out.

_I'll try my best! That's if he ever gets here - waiting around on my own atm looking like a lost cabbage :| xxx_

By the time Peter had arrived, Alex had looked at the timings for films what seemed like a million times. They would be okay to see quite a few of them - Ted, Batman, The Lorax and Step up 4. Although she was secretly partial to a bit of Dr Seuss, she thought she had best not suggest that the watch the Lorax and decided to herself that maybe they could go see Step Up. She knew it was perhaps a little girly, but she knew quite a few guys that had enjoyed the previous films because of their underground nature. And anyway, Ted didn't really seem her thing and she'd never been into superheroes, nor had she seen any of the previous Batman films. A blue corsa pulled up on the opposite side of the road which caught Alex's eye and she smiled when Peter got out of the drivers side, jogging across to the entrance of the cinema and where Alex was now waiting for him with a smile on her face.

'Sorry! Oh my god, I'm so sorry!' he puffed as he came closer to Alex and pulled her to him so that he could kiss her cheek. Alex felt the blood instantly rise in her cheek as his lips made contact and she cursed herself for being both so inexperienced and feeling so girly. Peter didn't seem to be aware of her face flushing and rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh as he began to explain why he was late, his voice breathy. 'I was all ready to go when my Mum started fussing and my Dad was telling me to treat you nicely and saying I need to bring you round so they can meet you and I kid you not, they would _not _let me leave' he stopped to laugh a little 'and then when I eventually got away the car was being shit and I got stuck behind a learner and then hit some kind of bird and -' he stopped as he saw Alex laughing quietly to herself, her eyes cast downwards and her hair falling slightly in front of her eyes. Peter let out another half sigh, half laugh and smiled at her. 'Yeah, it doesn't matter but I'm telling you, it was an eventful journey'.

'I believe you' Alex replied, lifting her head and her eyes sparkling slightly. She finally looked him over and tried to hastily push away the flash of disappointment that attacked her stomach at the sight of him. It wasn't that he didn't look handsome - he always did - but he was stood in a comfy looking tshirt with the logo for some 80's band on it and a pair of dark blue jeans that she had noticed on him a couple of times at school. She hadn't expected a top hat and tails, but it seemed that he had made very little effort at all. However, she tried to ignore her thoughts and instead told herself that maybe he was one of those 'a lot of effort to look effortless' cases - and besides, she told herself, what did it matter? She was here for him and not his appearance or what he wore. She almost didn't hear the tiny voice in her head that countered her rationality with a mumbled of 'but some effort would have been nice'.

x-x-x-x-x

'I was looking at the board to see what we could watch and I thought that we could see Step Up? What do you think?' she asked as they made their way over to the rather bored looking teen on the ticket counter. She glimpsed at Peter and saw him tugging his face into an unsure expression.

'Errr..' he gave a non-committal noise and then stopped walking, shuffling around in his pockets. 'I've already brought the tickets' he smiled at her briefly and then turned back to feeling for said tickets in his back pockets, eventually pulling them out victorious.

'Oh' the small sound came out more disheartened than she had intended and she hoped that he hadn't noticed. She looked up at him with a slightly dampened smile on her face that she tried to hide. 'What're we seeing then?' Peter didn't answer, instead choosing to hand her the tickets. She felt her heart drop a millimetre or two. 'Batman?' she looked up at him to see him giving her a wide, excited smile.

'Yeah! I've been wanting to see it for _so _long. Christian Bale is so good, and this one's got Anne Hathaway as Cat Woman' he beamed, but Alex could only muster the smallest of smiles. 'Why is that not alright?' Her hesitation was minute before she looked up at him and shook her head quickly.

'No, no. That's fine! I've just never seen any of them' she explained. Peter batter her words away with the back of his hand.

'Oh, don't worry. I'll explain it as it happens'. Alex felt the apprehension lifting from her a little and she found a real smile gracing her lips. If Peter explained what was happening to her, she figured that she'd be able to pick up the rest of what was happening. It would be okay. 'Anyway' her thoughts were interrupted. 'Got your money? I think we decided on popcorn duty' Alex looked a mixture of amusement and outrage at his remark and he winked at her, taking her hand softly and pulling her over to the popcorn stand. 'I brought the tickets - it's only fair' he shoulder bumped her and Alex rolled her eyes, laughing and ordering two large sweet popcorns for the pair of them.

x-x-x-x

As they took their seats, Alex was feeling a lot better than she had a couple of minutes previously. Peter was sat next to her now with his shoes kicked off, feet up on the back of the seat in front of him and his body angled so that his back was turned to her more, but his face was also closer to hers. Adverts played in the background but the pair paid very little attention to what was on the screen as they giggled together making ridiculous joked and flicking the occasional piece of popcorn at the other. As soon as the lights were dimmed in the room, Peter turned his attention to the big screen and gave Alex a joking 'shh' as he settled into his seat, a boyish look of excitement on his face.

Within the first couple of minutes, Alex was confused as to what the hell was going on. An aeroplane glided through the air, attaching itself to another plane and seemingly blasting every one out of it for no reason what-so-ever. But it was the gigantic man with the strange mask thing that _really _confused her.

'Pete, who's that?' she whispered to him, leaning over so as not to distract the people around them. Pete barely took his eyes from the screen, instead leaning a little closer to her.

'He's the bad guy' he told her. Alex waited for him to elaborate, but it soon became clear that he wasn't going to and she was left wondering if he was being serious - a guy with some weird back mask thing giving out threats and blowing up planes? _A bad guy?_ Never...

She soon found that said bad guy was also pretty difficult to understand due to the ridiculous mask over his mouth, the film was generally pretty dark in colour which tired her eyes out, she hadn't a clue what was happening with any of the characters and any attempt at trying to grasp the storyline by asking Peter was futile. God, she wished that they were watching something - _anything _- else. And to top it all, it was a bloody long film. She found herself completely giving up focusing on the film in front of her just into the second hour and her mind began to wander. What had she expected from a date? Holding hands and kissing in the back row? Movie style giggles and fluttered eyelashes? Not knowing what was happening because they were too tied up in each other? She wasn't really sure, but she had got one thing right; she had very little interest in the film but for all the wrong reasons. Maybe this was how all dates went? After all, not everything could be how you envisaged it to be. Life was not an american rom-com so maybe this was what every first date was like - mildly awkward and slightly dull. But then again, she had to remind herself that it _was _only their first date, and they'd been there for barely an hour and a half - there was every chance that it would liven up.

Two hours later and the film was drawing to a close and Alex had accepted that she had been wrong. Very, very wrong. Around the 2 hour mark, she had found her eyelids drooping and felt herself beginning to slip into a light sleep that was disturbed by constant bangs and crashes. Eventually managed to block out the sound of speeding cars and find a comfortable position for her elbow to rest on, Alex was able to waste a good ten minutes of the film with dreamless light sleep, but her nap was soon interrupted by Peter jolting her elbow and waking her up, a semi-aggravated look on his face.

'You're missing it' he whispered to her, his eyes lingering on her for longer than a couple seconds for the first time since the film had begun. Alex wasn't sure what to say under his intense gaze and so all that came out of her mouth was

'Oh. Sorry' he winked at her again - she was beginning to notice that he did that a lot - and reached over to take her hand then brought it to his lips and dropped a very quick kiss there. The contact didn't last for long because he quickly dropped her hand and turned back to the film again leaving her both awake and bored. Again.

x-x-x-x

'Did you enjoy it?' Pete asked her, taking her hand as they walked through the doors of the cinema room and out into the bright hallways of the Odeon. Alex wasn't completely sure what to say - she couldn't very well say that she really didn't enjoy the film and they'd barely said 3 words to each other in the entire 3 hours they had been in the darkened room for, but then again it would be lying to say that she had had a riot and so she settled for what she hope was a fair compromise.

'It was long' and she added a cheerful laugh at the end to try and disguise the fact that the comment was all that she could muster up. Peter laughed with her and nodded.

'Yeah, but it was amazing, wasn't it. The bike! That was awesome, and Cat Womans outfit! Whwoarrr' Alex smiled a little at him and pushed the hair out of eyes with the hand that wasn't being held by Peter.

'Yeah. So what do you want to do now?' the sun was already starting to get dimmer as the autumn evening drew nearer, draining the sky of its brightness and there was the cold evening chill firmly in the air. Peter umm'ed and ahh'ed for a minute and looked down at his watch for a quick time check.

'Well we could go for a coffee or something?' he asked. 'I have to pick my Mum up from work at 9ish so we have about half an hour?' Alex nodded and they both headed towards one of the small cafes that were open into the evening in a silence that she wasn't sure could be classified as awkward or comfortable, but it didn't last long as they arrived at the the little building quickly. A waitress that looked like she had been working an hour or two longer than she could muster enthusiasm for showed them to a table by the window through which they could see the passers by either rushing home for the night or heading out for the evening. The pair made small talk as they sat down and ordered, Alex playing with a pack of sugar that had somehow made its way into her hands without her really realising.

'Got any plans for the weekend?' Peter asked for want of a better conversation started. Alex shrugged.

'Not really... you?' Peter shook his head and scrunched his head in a 'not really' kind of way but stopped when he started to laugh and shake his head, putting it in one of his hands. Alex watched, confused where the sudden laughter was coming from and waited as he smoothed a hand through his hair and then met her eyes. 'My god, I'm sorry. This is just going so badly'. She was clearly taken aback by his blunt words but she couldn't deny that it hadn't quite been the first date that she had imagined so instead of saying anything, she started to snicker along with him, lowering her head to look at the table and then meeting his eyes with a soft smile on her lips.

'It's been okay' she offered him but they could both knew it could have gone better.

'Can I start again?' Alex nodded, grinning. Peter took a deep cleansing breath. 'You look lovely' Alex felt colour rise to her cheeks and hoped that it was an attractive glow and not a scarlet blush.

'Thanks' she hated compliments because she never truly believed them, but it was sweet of him to say so and so she accepted the compliment as gracefully as she could.

From there, the conversation flowed much easier and their coffees were drained as they chatted about all number of things; school, home life, friends and the quality of the coffee that they were sipping on. Before they were really aware of it, the street was lit only by the street lights, the frequency of people passing the window had dwindled and it was time for Peter to go and pick up his Mother from work. He offered her a lift home which she gladly accepted having dreaded the short walk home in the chilly night air. The journey took a matter of minutes and Alex felt a lot more comfortable in his presence now than she had a half an hour before. As he pulled up outside her house, she looked across at the drivers seat and gave him a small smile in the glow of the headlights and street lamps.

'Well, thanks for a lovely night, Pete' she told him softly, not wanting to break the nice hush that was filling the car by speaking loudly and abruptly. Peter smiled over at her and nodded his head.

'And you, gorgeous' a very little huff of laughter escaped her at his use of the name and her smile widened.

'Bye, Pete.' but she didn't leave the car and instead silence filled the space between them and their eyes met. It felt right that she leant forward then, meeting his lips half way and kissing him softly. The kiss didn't last long and it wasn't a flurry of passion and emotion, but it was sweet and tender and when they pulled away Alex's eyelids fluttered open to reveal eyes that were shining with a smile.

'I'll see you soon' Peter told her quietly and Alex nodded, getting out the car as gracefully as she could and walking up the garden path to the door with a hint of sway in her step. Peter didn't pull away until she had slipped her key in the lock, walked through the door and turned to wave goodbye to him safe and sound.

'Alex?' the voice of her Mum floated down the hall to her. Alex dropped her keys and bag on the little table in the hallway and made her way to the living room where she knew her Mum would be.

'Heya'

'How was it?' Caroline asked with a sly smile that indicated that she wanted all the gossip from her daughter.

'Yeah. Not too bad' Alex offered which earned her a frown.

'Just 'not too bad'?'

'Yeah, it was okay. The film was rubbish -'

'What did you see?' Caroline interrupted. Alex rolled her eyes.

'Batman. Anyway, it was rubbish, but we went for a coffee afterwards which was nice'

'Did he pay for it?'

'Yea, but I did offer' Caroline nodded her approval.

'Good. You can stand on your own two feet! Did he kiss you?' she teased, raising an eyebrow with a cheeky wink. Alex didn't answer, instead choosing to head for the door and make her way upstairs, ignoring the question all together and trying to hide her blush. Caroline, however, wasn't letting her get away with not answering that easily and followed her daughter out the room.

'Oi, Missy! Did he?' Alex just rolled her eyes.

'Night Mum'.

As Alex reached her room, she pulled her phone out from her back pocket and turned it on from when she switched it off when they went into the cinema. Giving her phone a couple of minutes to give her the messages she'd been sent, she began to take her makeup off and set her laptop up when her phone buzzed.

_Don't get too close to lover boy tonight. Never trust the quiet ones xxx_

The message from Gene made her smile and a little giggle escaped her lips.

_And I suppose I should trust you because you're as noisy as a lion, right? ;) xxx_

The reply came sooner than expected.

_That's me, Price. Lion of NMC. You just wait till you hear me roar ;) xxx_

This time, the smile didn't leave Alex's face for a long time.

_TBC..._


	8. Run Rabbit Run

**A/n Sorry about the delay for this, but it's quite a hefty chapter so I hope you all enjoy it! **

**If you could spare a small second, please drop a review in the box below, and thanks to ALL those who have reviewed in the past! It really does make my day! Thanks to Elle for the help aswell. You're such a doll. **

**Enjoy!**

**MBRB'xoxo**

_I saw a fox by the rabbit hole. _

_You saw a prince from a fairytale. _

_He promised that he'd watch over you. _

_Turned out the be the fox we all knew. _

_**Run Rabbit Run - The Hoosiers.**  
_

Over the weekend, Alex heard nothing from Peter. She thought that perhaps he was trying to give her some space or something equally ridiculous, but after texting him a quick 'Hey, how're you? :) xxx' and not getting a reply, she decided that perhaps he didn't think they're date went as well as she had. But if that were the case, then why would he kiss her as she was leaving? She really didn't know and his sudden cold shoulder was confusing the hell out of her. She had asked Annie and Shaz what they thought and told them all the details of the date itself and they had both said that perhaps he was either playing hard to get or just wanted some time to think about it - they were sure that he'd be fine by the time they got back to school on Monday. Alex wasn't too sure herself but she figured that she could do very little about it other than texting him non-stop until he was forced to reply but becoming the overly-clingy-slash-creepy new girlfriend wasn't such an appealing thought.

When Monday finally came, the bus arrived at school a little earlier than it normally did and so Alex decided she had time to make a quick cup of tea. Standing in the kitchen and waiting for the kettle to boil, Alex leant against the kitchen counter typing out a quick reply to a message her Mum had sent her. Before she could press send, she felt an arm slip around her waist and a kiss being pressed to her cheek.

'Hey, Pete' was all she said as she looked into the face of Peter who was grinning beside her, holding her close.

'Alright, gorgeous?' she took it as a rhetorical question and turned round to face the now boiling kettle instead of answering him. 'How was your weekend?' he asked her to which she looked at him with the smallest hint of annoyance that he was completely oblivious to.

'Yeah it was okay... How come I didn't hear from you at all?' as always, Alex was straight to the point and not skirting around the issue as many do. Peter seemed a little taken aback by her bluntness and paused for a second to consider what she had said, his expression blank and his mind racing, grasping at a suitable answer.

'I, err...I thought you'd text me first' was the best that he could come up with. Alex frowned and pulled the tea bag from her cup.

'I did' she sounded anything but thrilled as she moved around him to put the bag in the bin.

Silence.

'I'm sorry, babe. Truth is, I thought you'd be mad that our date didn't go as well as I'd expected it to' Alex sighed, trying to read his expression but finding him completely unreadable. That was one of the things that she found unsettling about Peter; he was like a closed book despite seeming so wholly open.

'The date was fine. It was the lack of anything after' she leant against the counter again with her hands wrapped around her freshly made drink and her eyes firmly fixed in the steam that was rising from it.

'I'm sorry Ali' he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and tried to nudge her to make her smile again but it didn't work. Instead she just glanced up at him from the corner of her eye.

'you bloody better be' she mumbled and Peter grinned at her, pulling her towards him once again, kissing her temple. Alex wondered if she'd done the right thing by letting him get away with not getting in touch with her and then giving her an apology that she knew was closer to half hearted than sincere, but they were a new couple - could she call them that? - and they were still getting used to each other and learning the pros and cons of the other person. Perhaps Peter was just a little useless at communication? She didn't know but she was willing to give him one chance. And one chance only. She was about to tell Peter to never, ever call her 'Ali' again but the thought was lost uas her she saw who was approaching.

'Moved on quickly' Alex rolled her eyes and looked over at Jeanette who had come to fill up her water bottle with Judy.

'How long have you two even been together? You're such a fucking slut, Alex' Peter stayed quiet as Alex looked suitable outraged and let out a bitter, disbelieving puff of laughter.

'How the hell am I a slut?! I've had one date with him!' this time it was Judy who was laughing cruely.

'One 'date'? When're you going to learn. I think you mean one quick fumble in the back of his' - she indicated Peter - 'car' Alex's jaw dropped and she felt certain that it was going to hit the floor. Not again. Not this again.

'Who told you that?' her voice came out a lot calmer and more dangerous than she thought it was going to and she thought that she detected a small hint of surprise in the girls eyes, but it was shaken away with a superior toss of her flame red hair.

'It's common knowledge, sweetheart' Judy spat, looking Alex up and down with distain.

Alex felt confusion racing through her mind, jumbling all coherent thoughts so she was unable to think why the hell this kept happening to her. She'd only been at the bloody school for a couple of weeks and she'd already had 'town tramp' stamped across her forehead. And so Alex found herself coming out with one of the catty comments she usually did when she found herself backed into a corner with her temper threatening to overpower her.

'Well I wouldn't listen to that pesky 'common knowledge', darling. If we all paid attention to what it had to say, we'd all think you were referred to as the local fire engine' she flicked Judys' bright hair with the back or her hand casually and then continued 'Wheeled out when needed, used for a quick squirt, cools things down and then locked back in your box' Judy looked completely appalled and it was her jaw that was now hanging open as Peter gave a snort of laughter and Alex moved away from the kitchen, walking out of the common room and to her Chemistry lesson without a backwards glance.

X-x-x-x

'Are you okay?' her daydream was interrupted by a concerned looking Keats who was leaning into her with his eyebrows knitted together with what appeared to be worry. Alex took a moment to fully return to the present time and away from her dreamy world in which she found herself back in London being zoomed through the familiar streets by a man with leather driving gloves - she had always had a thing for driving gloves. The up-close view of Jim Keats was as far from her daydream as humanly possible but, Alex reminded herself, this was her reality now.

'Yea, yeah I'm fine' she told him in the hopes he'd back away a little but he didn't.

'Good. You seem pretty distant though...are you sure you're alright?' Alex gave him a tight smile and nodded.

'I'm find, Jim. Thanks' Jim nodded and frowned, appearing to consider her words carefully. Then he leant towards her a little closer.

'Only, I heard about your argument with Judy this morning' his attempt at what she assumed was supposed to be sympathy barely disguised his thirst for more information and Alex shifted her chair a little way from him.

'Yea, well I'm sure you're not the only one' Jim had the good grace to look away from her at last and turned back to the perfect line of pencils he had made, adjusting them ever so slightly.

'So they think you've slept with Pete as well now?' he prodded.

'Yup' Alex replied shortly, not appreciating his digging for information.

'And did you?' she turned to him sharply, considering telling him to piss off, but instead she just told him an indignant 'No I bloody didn't.' Jim nodded as if he knew all along that what he had heard wasn't true and he seemed to hold his head a little bit higher.

'Thats what I thought all along, you know. I did try to tell everyone they were wrong but they wouldn't listen' Alex turned to him sharply but he seemed oblivious to his implication that everyone he had spoken thought she was an easy tramp.

'Gee. Thanks' was all she said in response, her voice dropping with sarcasm and she felt a wave of relief when Jim finally turned back to his text book and the questions they were supposed to be answering without replying to her. But her relief didn't last long as Jim looked to her once more with what she thought was a reassuring look on his face and started talking to her again.

'Look, don't worry. If I hear anyone talking about what _supposedly _happened, then I'll make sure that they know it's not true. Everyone knows that they're all just jealous of you, Alex. You've come here and everyone likes you, and now you're with Pete who Judy so happens to be crazy about. It's no wonder they don't like you. And if I find out who started the rumours, I'll be sure to give them hell for it' Alex, despite herself, smiled at Keats. It was nice to know that someone was on her side and was willing to make sure people knew the truth. She placed a hand on Jims arm momentarily.

'Thanks, Jim. I really appreciate it. Honestly' Keats nodded, looking a little too happy with himself as they both turned back to their textbooks again.

X-x-x-x

At lunch time, Alex felt eyes landing on her as she walked through the doors of the common room. It was a feeling that she was growing used to, but still found incredibly uncomfortable; as if she were on show or had 8 heads. Annie and Shaz were sat waiting for her and both gave her sympathetic, understanding looks as she made her way over to the pair.

'Don't' was all she said, sighing heavily and dropping down onto one of the sofas. Shaz and Annie exchanged worried looks. The pair had been talking about how they thought that this round of abuse and rumours from 'Jeanette and the bitches', as they had taken to calling them, would effect Alex prior to her arriving that lunch. Shaz had thought that she'd take it reasonably well and come in laughing and joking, brushing off their words and taunts that she had received all day and showing them all that she was better than them in every way. Annie had argued that she would be angry, ready to slate the girls and put them back in their place with catty comments and vicious looks, but neither of them had predicted her oozing 'I don't want to talk about it'. Her friends looked over at her again as she lifted a hand to rub at the corners of her eyes then moving momentarily to her temples before dropping her hands and looking to the girls.

'Where is everyone?'

'Erm. Sam and Ray have gone down town to get some food, Chris is in detention, Phyllis has gone home and Gene...' Annie looked over at Shaz questioningly, wondering where Gene actually was. Shaz returned her puzzled look and then turned to Alex.

'I don't know where the Guv is actually. I think he said that he wanted to ask someone something...' she faded away, trying to think if that was right. Annie let out an 'ohhh' of remembrance and then nodded in agreement.

'Yea, I think he said something about that in Law.' Alex wondered who could be the 'someone' he could be asking 'something'.

'How very mysterious' she pondered and then quickly dismissed the thought. He'd be back soon anyway, she was sure.

'Hello doll' the three girls looked up to Peter who was now stood behind Shaz's chair grinning down at Alex. She noticed the raised eyebrows from Shaz and the 'ohh la la' look that Annie shot her, and she tried to hide the smile that was playing at her lips but was pretty unsuccessful. She gave him a smile of greeting and he moved around Shaz to sit next to Alex, throwing an arm around her shoulders that she moved into happily.

'So you two are actually together now, yeah?' Annie asked them and the pair exchanged a questioning glance. They hadn't really spoken about it - they hadn't had the chance to - but from the look that passed between them, they both knew the answer.

'I guess so' Peter smiled as Alex nodded her head yes. Shaz grinned at them both, clapping her hands together lighty and bouncing in her seat a little.

'I bet that's really pleased those lot' Annie indicated the group of girls in the corner that were already glaring at Alex and Peter as they sat together. Alex followed Annies gaze automatically but looked away quickly as she accidently caught Judys eye.

'Yeah well, screw them. It's not up to them who I see. Right, Ali?' he nudged her and she quickly changed her expression from awkwardness at catching Judys' eye to annoyance at his 'Ali' name, to happy-lovey-dovey-couply, nodding her head.

'Oi. Pete. Football?' A boy whose name Alex was pretty sure was Jonathan called out to Peter, holding a football in his hand that he dropped behind Annie's chair onto the top of his foot then flicked back up to catch, a happy grin plastered over his face that made him appear slightly gormless. Peter jumped up from his seat, knocking Alex's head in the process of moving his arm from around her and darted over to where his friends were piling out the door.

'Yeah, mate! Sorry babe!' he called over his shoulder in reference to hitting her and then he was gone.

'Traitor' Annie winked at Alex, confusing her a little.

'What? How?'

'You're dating a footballer but you hang around with the Rugby boys. They won't be happy when they find out' Shaz explained, her voice light and teasing. Alex rolled her eyes. She had heard about the rugby/football rivalry and although she had been told many times that it was very serious business, she personally thought it completely childish and had ignored the entire thing.

'Whatever'. She had been about to elaborate when a girl Alex had seen in her English class came up to the three girls with a semi-urgent look on her face, calling Alex's name as she crossed the common room.

'Alex. You'd better go to the boys toilets pretty quickly' she told her to Alex's confusion.

'Why?'

'Gene told me to come and get you' was all the girl - Sarah? - said before wondering off towards the canteen. Alex, Annie and Shaz all exchanged confused looks as Alex stood up to head towards the boys toilets as instructed.

x-x-x-x

As she stood outside the boys toilets, she wasn't really sure what to do. There was nothing outside to suggest why she had been called here and she didn't particularly want to go storming in there to find that this was all some kind of joke that was being played on her. Wondering what to do for a second, she eventually decided to knock on the toilet door and go from there. Tapping lightly on the wooden door and calling out a soft 'Gene?', she waited for a response and was greeted with a small bang, an 'omph' and a 'Bloody hell, woman. Stop being a nancy and get in here'. Alex rolled her eyes at the typical Gene response and tentatively pushed open the toilet door and letting out a 'Jesus. What the hell?' as soon as she saw what was happening inside. She was met with the sight of a typical badly designed boys toilets, with a single toilet cubicle at the end of it and two urinals against one wall and two sinks on the opposite wall which left only a narrow pathway down the middle in which Jim Keat's had his face forcibly held against the wall above a sink by a rather pissed off looking Gene Hunt.

'Nice of you to join us, Pricey' he told her cheerfully, easily stopping Jims feeble attempt at pulling away from the wall.

'What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?' Gene just looked towards Jim at her question, speaking to him instead of Alex.

'What are you doing here, Jim? Go on. Tell the lady' Jim snarled something incoherent at Gene and tried again to struggled out of his grip, but failed miserably.

'Oh, I guess I'll have to tell her, Jimbo. You see, Alex' he began, turning to the confused girl in front of him. 'This morning when I came skipping into school, I heard a couple of whispers and rumours about a certain young lady. 'What be this?' asked I, approaching the nearest sprog. 'Alex Price has been fucking Peter Drake' said they' Alex glanced down at the grey floor with shame, despite not actually having been 'fucking Peter Drake' as he had so delicately put it. Gene continued. 'Well, I thought, that can't be true. So I said to the sprog 'I know Alex Price and although she clearly has shit taste in fellas' - she noticed his emphasis on this point and had to bite back a smile - ''she's not one to throw herself on her back for any poncey footballer' and so I began my enquiries which is where our friend Jimbo comes into the mix' he said, drawing Jims head back from the wall by a couple of inches and slamming it back with a thud and a groan from Keats. Alex narrowed her eyes, not completely following him.

'What do you mean?' Gene's face seemed to lit up at her question.

'Ah! Well, I asked a couple of people where they had heard this ground-breaking piece of news from and - isn't it funny how 'I don't know's and 'I can't remember's change when threatened - they all told me that they'd heard it from a certain Keats, here. Isn't that strange, Jimmy?' Gene sounded surprised at the news and raised his eyebrows, leaning close to Jim as he explained to Alex what was going on. 'And so when I asked the little worm where _he _had heard it from' he gasped in mock shock ' he couldn't remember! Isn't that funny!' Jim squirmed under Genes hold and mumbled a half-hearted 'I can't remember' which was distorted by a mouthful of wall.

Understanding dawned on Alex and she glared at Jim.

'You started that rumour?' she asked him, her voice dangerously low.

'No..' Jims head was slammed against the wall with a nasty thud once again 'Yes' his revised answer came. Alex narrowed her eyes, aware of Gene watching her intently.

'You told me this morning that you'd sort anyone out that didn't believe it wasn't true. You said you knew it was a lie. _You _started it?!' she was livid, her words coming out sharp and harsh.

'Oh, now that's something I didn't know' Gene interrupted, unaware that Jim had been telling Alex that he would sort anyone out who he thought believed the lies. 'You learn something every day, as they say' Jim seemed to find a sudden surge of energy then, or maybe it was that Gene was paying more attention to the shocked look on Alex's face, but he managed to use his full weight to push away from the wall at last, momentarily throwing Gene off balance so he fell backwards and hit his head on the corner of the slightly raised bracket that held the pipe rising from the top of the urinal to the wall. A noise that sounded anything but healthy rang out as the impact of Genes head hitting the pipe reverberated along the entire length of the plumbing and Gene let out a small grunt of pain before catching Keats by the back of the neck as he tried to push past Alex and out of the toilets. Without a word and now easily controlling Jim, he dragged him down to the end of the room where the toilet cubicle stood and slammed the door open, forcing Jims head down into the toilet bowl.

'Jesus, Gene, don't -' but Gene had already pulled the handle down and the room was filled with the sound of the toilet flushing. Alex looked on in a mix of horror and numb shock at how this whole situation had escalated so quickly. Plus, she had never seen someone actually being flushed down the toilet - it was something that was so typically film like and 'old school' that it hadn't really occurred to her that she would be seeing Gene Hunt holding Keats's head down a toilet whilst he got soaking wet. It was all so bloody Eastenders and she was sure that Gene was taking tips from Phil Mitchell. Gene eventually let Jim come up from air, his hair and face now soaking wet and his mouth open trying to pull in as much air as possible.

'Well, I think we're done here, aren't we?' Gene asked him, and Jim nodded weakly as he began to pull himself to his feet. He noticeably flinched when Gene reached out and grabbed him again though, spinning him so that Keats was facing Alex and he was close to his ear.

'Oh, one more thing. I think you owe Miss Price an apology, don't you?' Jim looked down at the floor as he mumbled an apology to Alex.

'I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean it to be this much of a big deal' Alex nodded slightly in response, not exactly sure what she was supposed to do so she just moved out of the way as Jim was pushed towards her and the door and scurried out of the toilets as quickly as he could. A wave of laughter could be heard from outside as, she assumed, the common room saw Jim dripping wet and terrified and she couldn't help but smile a little despite not approving _at all _of Gene's actions.

'What the hell was that all about, Gene?' she asked him taking a step towards where he was now feeling the back of his head where it had hit the pipe cautiously.

'That little shit needed to apologise' was all he said, clearly paying more attention to his head than to her.

'And why did you feel that you needed to make him to that?' Gene looked at her in the same way that he had done so many times before; like she was crazy.

'Because he's made the entire six form think that you were a slag twice' Alex looked dumbstruck.

'Twice? He started the rumour about me and you as well?' Gene nodded and Alex shook her head in disbelief.

'That wanker' she said under her breath. She had known that Keats was a worm but she hadn't thought that he would stoop _that _ low. God.

'Got to say, I prefer the rumour about me and you. A footballer, Alex? _Really?__' _looking at Gene, she could tell that he was just teasing her and she rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore his comment and focus on his head that he was still poking lightly.

'Come here' she told him softly, pulling him towards her by his arm and reaching up to feel the back of his head where it had been hit. He tutted and mumbled something about not being a poofter and her to stop fussing, but he turned away from her so that she could inspect his head better none-the-less.

'Bloody hell, Gene' her small smile of amusement changed to concern as she felt a hint of wetness on her fingertips and pulled them out of his blonde hair to see the smallest trace of blood there. 'You must have whacked it pretty damn hard' she frowned, feeling his head once again. She decided that it was only a small cut and the bump would go down soon enough and so dropped her hands from his head and smiled at him as he turned back to her.

'What's the diagnosis?'

'You need it all shaved off and a plaster put on it' she grinned.

'And you can fuck right off' he pouted, his hands in his jeans pockets and his shoulders pulled back. Alex laughed lightly and avoided his gaze as a slightly awkward silence filled the room, full of a tension that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

'Alex' the strange quietness of his tone made her look up at him slowly to see what it was that had caused him to say her name so gently.

'I - '

'The fuck?' the boy that had called Peter out to play football earlier - God, it seemed like hours - was standing in the toilet doorway, looking at Alex with confusion. 'Why're you in here?' he sounded like he was about to laugh and Alex felt a blush rise in her cheeks, tearing her eyes away from Gene's and looking towards... Jonathan? Sheesh she needed to learn some names.

'I, er. Um. Wrong toilets' she stuttered, aware of Gene's amused gaze on her back as she dived past the maybe-Jonathan-maybe-something-else-altogether boy and out the door as quickly as she could, cursing Gene Hunt the entire way.

_TBC..._


	9. Landfill

**A/n This is a bit of a mammoth chapter to be honest! **

**Thank you for every single review and if you have a moment, I'd love to hear your thoughts ! **

**Enjoy, Chickas! :) **

**MBRB'xoxo**

_Cos this is torturous_

_Electricity between both of us_

_And this is dangerous_

_Cos' I want you so much _

_But I hate your guts._

**_Landfill - Daughter_**

Alex, Gene and Jim seemed to be the talk of the school for the next couple of days and the amount of different versions of what actually happened that Alex had heard was ludicrous; Gene had smashed Jim's skull against the urinal and there was blood everywhere, Jim had walked in on Alex and Gene kissing and flew into a jealous rage, Alex had demanded that Gene beat Jim up because he beat her in a chemistry test. It really was bizarre how stories changed and evolved into the ridiculous when placed in the hands of teenagers that had very little else to do with their time. But by the time Friday rolled round, the whole cafuffle seemed to be a thing of the past and the rumour mill had rolled on to deal with its next victim. Alex hadn't managed to get to the bottom of what it was that Gene was about to say before Peters' friend had walked into the bathroom and she had come to accept that she never would - there were some things about Gene that she knew were destined to be a mystery forever and she resigned herself to the fact that this would just be another of those. The school week had been pretty kind to the fledgling relationship between Alex and Peter and although she would rather have seen him a little more, they had got to know eachother a little better and had fallen into a routine of sorts, much to their friends amusement. They would spend the short time before the first lesson of the day together, usually text each other from across the common room at break time and then they would both meet at the start of lunch by the canteen to either eat together or Peter would drive them both down town to pick up some food from Tesco and they would either spend all of lunch together, or they'd split and go back to their individual friendship groups for a half hour or so. Then they would text for most of the evening, depending on their individual plans and the next day the whole thing would start again. On Thursday they had gone out for a coffee and Peter had asked if she would like to come over that weekend for dinner and meet his parents on Saturday night. Alex had been thrilled at the suggestion and so accepted enthusiastically but it wasn't until she got home that evening when she had time to really think about it that she felt the nerves setting in. She didn't know what Peter had told his parents about her and what if she didn't match up to the 'Ali' that they had heard about? Or even worse, what if he hadn't said anything to them? What if they didn't like her, or what if she didn't like them? This whole relationship thing was turning out to be a whole lot more complicated than she had first thought it would be.

x-x-x-x

On Saturday night, Alex waved goodbye to Caroline who was cooking dinner for Tim and made her way down the path to where Peter was sat waiting for her in his car. As she climbed in, she leant across to peck his lips quickly and them smiled at him, trying to hide the fact that her stomach was twisting uncomfortably at the thought of the evening ahead.

'You alright?' She wasn't sure if he meant in any differently from the way that he greeted her most days or if he was referring to her tight smile and fidgety hands, but she nodded cheerfully either way and pulled her seatbelt across her. Peter started the car and turned the volume up on the music that was playing as they began the journey to his house. Alex soon lost track of the streets and roads that he drove down after they had passed the area that the school was in. She knew that she wasn't completely familiar with the local area yet and so she soon gave up trying to pin-point her location on a map realising that it was pretty much useless. The drive was longer than she had expected it to be though, lasting a good 20/25 minutes or so and bringing her to an area of Manchester that she knew she had never been to before. The street was well lit in this area of the city and Alex looked around her as Peter finally cut the engine. She was in a street that looked very much similar to many streets of Manchester; rows of attached houses, each with their neat little garden out the front and, she assumed, a neat fenced garden out the back. It was a nice area - nothing overly fancy - and the house that he had pulled up in front already had lights glowing through the windows into the autumnal evening light which gave it a cosy aura. If his parents had the same comforting and welcoming feel about them that the house did, Alex knew that she needn't worry about meeting them at all.  
'They don't bite' Peter teased, taking her thoughtfulness as hesitation and he seemed pretty amused about it. His words snapped Alex out of her thoughts and making her turn to him quite suddenly.  
'What? Oh...sorry I was miles away. I know, I know. I can't wait to meet them' she returned his soft smile that could only be seen by the dim lights of the street lamps and then began to climb out of the climb as Peter did the same. She was hit by the cold air as soon as she stepped from the car and pulled her blazer around her, grateful that she had chosen to wear her favourite fingerless hand-warmers as she stood behind Peter as he fumbled around trying to unlock the front door. It eventually swung open and the welcoming light that Alex had seen from the windows bled out onto the street to where she was stood.  
'Hello love' she heard being called down the hallway that the pair had stepped into. The layout of the house was very similar to Alex's - hallway leading to a living room with a door to the kitchen coming off it, a set of stairs to one side and a door way to what appeared to be a study just to her left. Peter beckoned her over to where the kitchen was and she followed him through to see who she assumed was his Mum bustling around in the kitchen.  
'Alex this is Mum. Mum, Alex' he introduced them with a touch of shyness, waving a loose hand between them to indicate one another. His mother beamed at Alex and brushed her hand against the apron she was wearing to rid it of the breadcrumbs that coated her fingers.  
'Oh, call me Marjorie' Alex nodded, suddenly feeling self-conscious and she felt her shoulders tighten a little, coming up a closer to her ears.  
'Nice to meet you' Marjorie seemed pleased with her politeness and turned back to her cooking with one eye on the teens.  
'Well offer the young lady a drink, Pete' she scolded. Peter looked embarrassed and Alex tried not to laugh at his pained eye roll as he turned to her.  
'Would you like a drink, Lady Price?' he mocked. He didn't seem to notice the flash of surprise that passed over her face as her boyfriend used one of the nicknames that Gene frequently called her. She quickly shrugged it off and shook her head at Peter.  
'No thanks' she declined. Peter pulled a 'told you so' kind of face at his mothers back and then made to leave the kitchen.  
'Where's Dad?'  
'In the studio. Is chicken kieve okay for you, Alex?' Alex nodded.  
'Yeah, sounds lovely!' Marjorie smiled at the pair once more and then turned back to prepping the chicken, humming along to the song she had playing on the kitchen radio.  
'I don't know if I told you this, but Dad's deaf' Peter told Alex as they walked down the hallway and stopped outside what she had thought to be a study. From her raised eyebrows, Peter assumed that he indeed hadn't told her and began to explain.  
'There was an accident a couple of years ago and he lost his hearing'  
'Oh, I'm sorry' Alex found herself saying. She hated when people did that when there was bad news. 'My fish died' - 'oh I'm sorry'. What for? You didn't kill them. Why apologise? But no matter how hard you try, 'I'm sorry' is always what comes out. Peter shook his head in dismissal.  
'Don't worry. He can lipread okay so just make sure he's looking at you before you speak?'  
'Of course' she agreed and then followed Peter as he pushed open the door and entered his fathers studio. She was met with the sight of a large white room with one wall covered in paintings that were starting to spill on the adjoining wall. Blank canvases stood piled up and propped against eachother by the opposite wall and in the centre of it all stood Peters father with a palette on one hand and a brush in the other. He looked over at the couple as they walked through the door, the movement catching his attention, and he beamed at them.  
'Dad, this is Alex' he told him, gesturing to Alex vaguely. 'Alex, this is Dad. Obviously. Bryan.'  
'Nice to meet you, Bryan' Alex smiled, noticing the mans eyes flitting from her eyes to her lips as she began to speak and then back up to her eyes as soon as she had finished.  
'And you, Alex. You've got a looker there, son' Peter looked shyly from Alex to the floor and she felt the colour rise a little to her cheeks. She wasn't sure what she had expected in the way of speech from Bryan, but she found herself surprised that she was surprised that he could speak so clearly. His words were the tiniest bit slow and very slightly affected by not hearing language for so many years, but other than that he spoke perfectly.  
'Yeah' was all Peter mumbled in response to his fathers comment and Alex bit back the bubble of nervous laughter that was forming in her stomach.  
'May I...?' she trailed off, indicating the paintings on the walls. Bryan nodded enthusiastically and Alex made her way over to them all. The wall was packed with all different sized canvases that each held a stunning painting. Some were portraits, some were still life and some were landscape, but they were all beautiful. Her eyes looked over them all, trying to take in each and every one.  
'You did these?' she turned to Bryan and he nodded, seemingly pleased that she liked his work.  
'They're incredible' This time it was Bryan's turn to look away coyly.  
'Thank you'  
'Dad started painting after the accident. One of the officers that dealt with it all mentioned that he should take up something he loved doing and she suggested painting. It was really weird' Peter frowned ever so slightly at the memory of the odd officer but then shook it off as he watched Alex continue down the wall of paintings.  
'Well they're beautiful. Really' she told Bryan, finally stepping away from them and standing next to Peter again.  
'Come on' he told her, taking her hand and making his way over to the door. Alex gave a quick wave to his father which Bryan retuned and then allowed Peter to lead her up the stairs and into his bedroom.

x-x-x-x

Again, Alex wasn't sure what to expect of Peters room, but what she was met with was a typical teenage boys bedroom with a single bed pushed against one side, a couple posters and couple of shelves with an assortment of books and 'things' on them. There was a desk pressed against another wall with what looked like pages and pages and pages of paper - some stacked up and some discarded. This, she supposed, was the book that Peter had mentioned he was working on. She looked around as she entered and Peter stood back, waving an arm around at the space in front of her.

'Welcome to my humble abode' he gave her a mock bow and she raised her eyebrows at his chivalrous pantomime.

'Well thank you very much, kind Sir' she played along, walking past him and standing in the the middle of the room, not sure where to place herself.

'Take a seat' he smiled, indicating the bed that was behind her as he pulled out the wheely chair from under his desk and sat on it, pulling one leg up to his chest and leaning an elbow on it. Alex did as he said and lowered herself onto the deep blue sheets. Peter laughed at her surprised expression as the entire bed creaked as she sat down which managed to crack the ever so slightly awkward atmosphere that had been sneaking into the room.

'Someone needs some WD40' Alex joked, kicking off her black dolly shoes and shifting backwards on the bed so her back was against the walls and her knees were bent. Peter nodded in agreement.

'It does my head in'

'I bet. It doesn't hide movement much' Alex raised a suggestive eyebrow and Peter burst out laughing at her. A small thrill went through her at his amusement but silence settled over them again as his laughter faded away.

'Your parents are nice' Peter looked a little doubtful.

'All parents are nice when there are other people are around. They're okay though. I don't really see Dad too much because he's always painting, but they're alright' he explained. Alex nodded. She was well aware of just how lovely parents could seem to friends and guests; they always managed to make the side of themselves that shouted and disapproved away as soon as there was a non-family member in the house, but she supposed that was the same for all parents. Maybe it was a skill that was acquired as soon as you had a child. Peter suddenly got up from his chair and made his way over to a little blue satchel that was sat on one of the shelves near his desk.

'You don't mind if I smoke, do you?' he asked Alex. In all honestly she really did - she hated the way the nicotine smell embedded itself in every fabric that it touched and she could smell it on herself right up until she got changed, but she didn't want to seem so overly prim and proper and so shook her head no. As he began to fiddle around in, her phone buzzed and she was distracted for a while as she replied to message that Annie had sent her asking if they were going to meet up the following day. It wasn't until she heard a small grinding noise that she looked up again to see Peter working at his desk, now tipping a green herb from a small pot that it had been in and on a paper and starting to roll it.

'Is that weed?' she asked him, her voice tight and her eyebrows knitted together. Peter turned round on his chair a little to look over his shoulder at Alex.

'Yeah? Want some?' He seemed completely oblivious to her appalled expression. Alex shook her head no as he licked the paper and concentrated on rolling it right.

'Er, no. I didn't know you smoked, let alone smoked weed'. He finally looked up at the sharpness of her tone that she had actually done her best to hide and his fingers stopped pinching the paper together.

'You're not going to go all good girl on me, are you?' he asked with laughter in his voice. Alex wasn't completely nieve and she had been around others when they had smoked before, but she just hadn't really expected it of Peter. He was turning out to be far from the sweet, considerate and lovable boy that she had _thought _she'd met in English class. No, she didn't object to people doing what they wanted to and smoking what they wanted to, but she just didn't really want to be around her boyfriend when he was doing it.

'No' she sighed. 'You just surprised me, that's all'

'There're many things you don't know about me' he winked at her cheekily, but she was beginning to feel uncomfortable and was relieved when he put the freshly rolled joint down and made his way over to the bed that she was sat on and made to sit next to her. The bed creaked loudly under him with every movement which managed to draw a small smile from them both and then he was sat beside her, placing a gently finger under her downcast chin and drawing her eyes up to look at him.

'Alright?' he asked her and Alex nodded, an unconvincing little smile on her lips.

'Can I kiss it better?' Peter teased and Alex let out a puff of laughter at his quiet tone and puppydog eyes and then nodded, leaning into him. Their lips met and Alex moved away from the wall a little so that they were facing each other more, her arm rising up to fall around his neck to pull him closer and his hands landing gently on her waist, helping her shift round. The bed beneath them creaked loudly at her movement and they felt the She found herself thinking that it was nice to be doing something that was, by now, familiar to her after being in a place that she had never been before with people she didn't actually know and then finding out things about her boyfriend that had come completely out of the blue.

Their kiss was only ended when the voice of Peters mother came floating up the stairs.

'Pete, Alex, dinner!' As they pulled apart, Alex grinned at Peter with a mixture of lust and amusement.

'So I'm not the only one who calls you 'Pete'' she giggled. Peter rolled his eyes.

'You're one of the only ones who I let get away with it' he said with a raised eyebrow, leaning forward to peck her lips quickly and then jump up off the bed and make his way towards the door. Alex's phone buzzed for the third or forth time since she had replied to Annie and Peter looked at her questioningly as she followed him out of his bedroom and down the stairs.

'Probably just a Facebook notification' she shrugged.

x-x-x-x

Dinner was lovely - Mrs Drake turned out to be a killer cook - and by the time it was time for her to leave, Alex had grown very fond of Peters' parents, in particular his father. They had been completely welcoming to Alex and there was nothing that was too much trouble to make her feel at home and comfortable. The evening passed in what seemed like a blur and before Alex knew it, she was waving goodbye to Marjorie and Bryan as Peter pulled away from the kerb and her phone beeped again. As she shifted to pull it out of the back pocket of her jeans, she hummed the song that was in her head quietly whilst reading the message Shaz had sent her.

_Alex and Peter sitting in a tree...you know the rest. How was the evening? Do they love you more than they love him yet? ;) xxx_

A small snort of laughter escaped Alex at her friends childish message and she shook her head slightly, not noticing the looked that Peter was giving her.

'Who's that?' he asked her, his tone shorter than usual which also went unnoticed by Alex as she tapped out a reply to Shaz without really concentrating on Peters' question.

'Huh, what sorry?' she asked as she finished, looking across at him.

'Who was that?' he nodded to her phone as the back-light on it faded away, leaving the inside of the car lit only by the passing street lamps and the green glow of the dashboard lights. _  
_

'Oh, just Shaz' Alex told him with a dismissive shrug. 'Why?'

'_Shaz_ seems to be texting you a lot tonight' he told her, his voice low and with a hint of danger that Alex had never heard before coming from him and coupled with the strange emphasis on Shaz's name, it unsettled her more than she thought probably reasonable. The sudden change in mood of the car instantly put her on edge and she became cautious of what she was saying. She tried to make herself sound carefree and ignorant to his - what appeared to her to be sudden - change in demeanour.

'Shaz hasn't text me much this evening. It was Annie most of the time' she shrugged. Peter glanced across at the passenger seat with what could only be described as doubt etched into his face.

'Annie. Oh really. I thought it was 'facebook notifications'?' He put on a high pitched, whiney voice as he quoted Alex from earlier which further caused the argument alarm bells to ring in her head and she didn't like it.

'Some of them were. My Mum sent me a message asking when I was home - '

'Oh your Mum? Why didn't she text you?' he asked before she had even really finished speaking. Alex looked at him with disbelief. What the hell was this all about?! She paused before replying, trying to calm herself a little because she could feel anger bubbling up in her stomach. She didn't appreciate the Spanish inquisition and she didn't feel it necessary to have to explain every message that she had received throughout the evening, but she told herself to stay cool and answer as civilly as she could.

'Her phone died' she told him through gritter teeth. The car took a corner and it was only then that Alex realised that Peter had sped the car up and they were now racing through the streets faster than she felt comfortable with and her stomach flipped as houses zipped by before she had the chance to even see them properly. Her hand slipped of her thigh where it had been resting and to the side of the passenger seat, gripping it as if that would help her ground herself.

'Are you sure it was your Mum? Bec - '

'Yes! It was!' she glanced over to the dial which indicated that their speed was gradually increasing as Peters temper flared.

'_Because _I think it may have been someone else. Gene, perhaps?' he spat Gene's name and Alex crinkled her brow in confusion.

'Gene?'

'The lovely Mister Hunt, yeah. The one who protected you from big bad Jimbo. You never did tell me what happened there, Alex. I've heard so many different rumours, perhaps you could clear it up for me?' Another corner and Alex was pushed against the side of the car with the force. Gone were the comforting speeds of Gene and the control she always felt he had on the vehicle.

'Pete, you're being ridiculous. Please, slow down. _Please' _For a moment she could hear nothing but both of their heavy breaths and the roar of the engine but he didn't slow down, only focused on road stretched out before him as it passed beneath his wheels. Tears welled in her eyes and she flickered between the profile of his face and the view out the windscreen, clutching her seat tightly with her whole body tensed.

'Please' It came out more of a pleading whisper than anything else and finally, her desperate tone seemed to get through to him because she felt the car slowing and saw the miles per hour begin to drop, though they still remained at a speed that Alex felt far from comfortable at.

'Just tell me, was it Gene?' Peter asked, the bitterness still in his voice but the anger seeming to fade a little, probably as the realisation of his idiocy set in. Alex shook her head beside him.

'No. I promise. Why would you even think that? Why would you even care?' she sounded weaker than she would have liked to but it struck her that she had gone past caring. If she had glanced down she would have seen that her knuckles were white as they clung to the seat and her muscles were beginning to ache after being tensed.

'He gives it the big I Am the other day and beats someone up for you, and I'm supposed to think that nothing's going on? I ignored it and I ignored the rumours, but your phone's been going off _all _evening, Ali! What am I supposed to think!? I saw the little secret smile you had whenever you read of the bloody messages - you were supposed to be meeting my parents and spending time with me, not talking to him all night!' Alex couldn't believe what she was hearing. He _seriously _thought that there was something going on between her and Gene?! It was ridiculous and she tried to bite back the fury that she felt within her and replace it with clear thought and sensibility.

'I promise you he's not text me all evening. I've not heard from him since yesterday! I can't believe this!'

'So he didn't beat Keats up the other day for you, no? And you didn't play nurse and patch him up afterwards?' he asked, still fuming and well over the speed limit. Alex thought about what he said and she supposed that yes - in a manner of speaking that's what had happened, but then at the same time that was really _not _what had happened at all...

'No, that's not what happened. Pete, you're scaring me' she decided that it was best to try and steer the topic away from Gene. As she looked out the window, she could see that the area that was flying past her was far more familiar than where Peter lived and they were coming up to the turning that lead to the street that she lived on. She thanked whatever or whoever it was that was watching over them that she had got, touch wood, home safe despite Peters manic and frankly terrifying driving. Her hand came out to steady herself as they took the corner and he sped down her road, slamming on the breaks outside her house and looking at her, his breathing heavy. A moment passed between them where they both tried to process what the hell had just happened until Alex, eyes wide, grabbed her phone and her bag from her feet and began to scramble out the car.

'Ali, wait'

'You're supposed to trust me and instead of asking me about it, you give me a death ride home? Jesus, Pete! What's wrong with you?' she fumed now standing on the pavement and leaning in the car.

'I trust you, I just don't trust Hunt' he growled, seemingly getting annoyed at how she was reacting.

'Yeah well it's all the same thing isn't it. Just go home, Pete. You scared the shit out of me then and you don't give a damn!' Peter did have the good grace to look slightly ashamed at her words, looking away from her and fixing his eyes on the road in front of him.

'I'm sorry'

'Yeah. So am I' Alex spat, slamming the door shut and turning on her heels to walk up the path to her house. She heard the passenger window being opened and her name being called out of it but she ignored his pleas for her to turn around. Eventually she heard him slamming a hand against the wheel and giving out a rather loud 'shit', then roaring away down the road.

It was only as she was trying to jam her key in the lock that Alex noticed she was visibly shaking. The whole journey had really put Peter in a new light to her and she was unsure as to where their relationship now stood. At that moment in time, she didn't even really want to think about it. Where had all this crap with Gene come from? He'd not mentioned anything about it all week and then all of a sudden; this? Just because she had received a couple of texts throughout the evening? She went into autopilot, too immersed in her thoughts to realise that she had taken off her makeup and gotten changed and it was only Genes name on her laptop screen that brought her back to reality. She was sat on her bed with her laptop on her legs looking at Facebook where her conversation with Gene was still up. She had lied to Peter earlier when she had said that she hadn't heard from him since school - she had been talking to him online just before she had gone out that evening and had had to leave their conversation half way through.

_Alex Price : The next match is coming up isn't it? It better not be as cold this time! I'll make sure to bring a scarf ;) _

_Gene Hunt : Yeah it's next week. Am I ever gonna get that scarf back btw? _

_Alex Price : Probably not! :) What day is it on?_

_Gene Hunt : They're always on Fridays. You gonna be there then, yeah?_

_Gene Hunt : Oi, Price. _

_Gene Hunt : Wanker._

She couldn't help but smile at Gene's parting messages to her. She hadn't had time to say goodbye or anything, and so had just left her laptop open and run downstairs as Peter had sat honking the car horn outside.

_Alex Price : Sorry. Went out. _

Gene took a moment to reply and she was surprised that he was still online. It wasn't too late, but he didn't strike her as the kind of person to spend his evenings hanging around on the internet.

_Gene Hunt : Nice of you to say so. _

_Alex Price : I had to leave quickly. _

She was aware her answers were shorter than they would usually be but her stomach was still churning and she just couldn't bring herself to care.

_Gene Hunt : You alright, Price? _

_Alex Price : Yeah, fine. You?_

_Gene Hunt : Yeah. What's happened?_

Damn you, Gene she cursed him. She sighed, looking at her screen for a moment trying to decide if she should tell him. She had to tell someone if only to get it away from her and the thought that Gene was probably the last person she should talk about it with did cross he mind, but she ignored it.

_Alex Price : I went to Petes tonight and he went mental in the car on the way home._

_Gene Hunt : Mental how?_

_Alex Price : He just started driving really fast and screaming at me about you because my phone kept going off and he thought it was you texting me._

_Gene Hunt : And why would it matter if I was texting you?_

Dammit. She could see that this had the potential to get awkward.

_Alex Price : He doesn't trust you. He's got the idea that you're going to try steal me off him or something :| idk. _

_Gene Hunt : I probably am ;) _

_Alex Price : Fuck off ;) But seriously, he scared the shit out of me. I honestly thought he was going to crash :/ It was horrible. _

_Gene Hunt : Right. Don't worry about it, Pricicle. The Gene Genie will sort him out. Anyway, got to go. Night. xx_

Alex stared at her screen and Gene's name which now had a little red circle next to it indicated he had logged off. He'd 'sort it'? She didn't know what he meant by that and she wasn't sure that she wanted to know, but with all the confusion that was buzzing round in her head at that moment she was sure she'd forget about it soon enough. Her phone beeped next to her and she picked it up half expecting it to be Gene messing about, but it was Peters name that flashed up on her screen and she felt her heart drop a bit at the thought of Peter and the evening.

_I'm really sorry about tonight. Mum and Dad think you're amazing - and so do I. I'm so sorry babes, I just don't trust Hunt. Everyone's seen how he's all over you. I believe you when you say he wasn't texting you though! I'll come see you tomorrow? We'll sort everything out then? :) Night gorgeous! xxxxx_

Alex sighed as she reread the message and then put her phone down without replying. She really didn't want to see him the next day. She just wanted some time to let the dust settle and to think things over without being shaken from the journey still. After a moment, she closed her laptop and lay down, letting sleep take her and leave behind the day which had started so well and ended so disastrously.

_TBC..._


	10. Battlefield

**A/n Quite a short chapter here, because otherwise it'd be another massive one. And so the next one is going to be the penultimate chapter of this little fic of mine. **

**Thank you all SO much for the support and the lovely _lovely _reviews! Every single one puts a smile on my face! **

**The scales are starting to shift in Alex's mind, and I hope that I've made that clear in this pretty rambly chapter, but as always - enjoy!**

**MBRB'xoxo**

_Don't try to explain your mind,_

_I know what's happening here.  
_

_One minute it's love  
_

_Then suddenly it's like a battlefield.  
_

_**Battlefield - Jordin Sparks**  
_

As the morning light filtered through her window, Alex cursed herself for once again forgetting to put her phone on silent before she went to sleep. After it beeped at her once more, she admitted defeat and groggily pulled the blasted device towards her, looking at it through bleary eyes heavy with sleep. Tapping on the envelope icon revealed that she had a message each from Annie Shaz and Gene and four from Peter.

_Sorry! I fell asleep. How was it in the end? :) xxxx_

Alex had figured that Shaz had fallen asleep as they had been texting and so wrote out a brief and non-commital reply saying it was okay then opened Annie's message.

_There's a thing on at Club 32 tonight because it's bank holiday and under 17s are allowed in :) They check bags for drink on the door, but you and Shaz can drink at mine before if you want? Mum and Dad are away so I have a free house. Stay over ? :) xxxx_

It sounded like exactly what Alex needed; a night out to take her mind off all the crap that Peter had been giving her and to just forget the entire week. She'd not spent time with Shaz and Annie for what seemed like forever but was in reality only a week or so. Since she had started at NMC, Caroline and Tim had got to know Annie and Shaz pretty well and trusted them which meant it wouldn't be an issue for her to go round Annie's for the night, so Alex wrote out a quick response asking for a couple details then moved onto the text from Gene.

_Feeling better today, Pricicle? Don't walk into any doors - I hear it can be painful ;) xxx_

Not for the first time since she had known him, she wondered what the hell it was that Gene was on about. He had a tendency to send her cryptic and strange messages; some of them she later found out the meaning of, some of them she didn't, but she'd learnt to just kind of roll with it by now. She text him back saying that yes, she was feeling better thanks and then opened the messages from Peter with a sigh.

_Morning. I am sorry about last night, babe. I've thought of a way to make it up to you though ;) I'll see you about 11ish? Xxxx_

_Sleeping Beauty. Awake? Xxxx_

_Wake uuppppp. Text me when you're up, yeah? 11 still okay? Xxxx_

_God, you can bloody sleep :| wake up! I'll call you at five to if you've not text me yet xxxx_

She glanced at the time and saw it was quarter to 11. She hadn't slept in that late for quite a while and guessed that the frenzied drive home had drained her of energy as well as scaring the crap out of her. If he was on time, he'd be here in 15 minutes and she was still half asleep and looking like hell. Fabulous. Her mind began to form a plan to time everything that needed to be done so that she was ready for his arrival, but as she got to 'put some toast on whilst doing my hair? That'll save time', she realised that she didn't honestly give a damn what she looked like at the moment. Peter was the one that was supposed to be in the dog house and ready to impress, not her. So why should she rush around on a Sunday morning making herself presentable for him?

_Awake. See you in a bit x_

She did ruffle her hair out into something vaguely resembling a hairstyle as she passed the mirror in the hallway on her way down to the kitchen, but that was all he was getting. The light dressing gown she had pulled on floated behind her as she walked and her slippers flumped on the kitchen tiles with each step on her way to the toaster and her thoughts now turned to more important planning; Marmite or jam? In the end she decided that jam would probably be best (natural sugars to kick start her insulin. Very sensible) and she absent mindedly hummed one of her Mums favourite songs as she pottered about the kitchen fixing herself a tea and generally ignoring the fact that Peter would soon be arriving.

'Travelled the wooorld and the seven seeeas, eeeeverybooodies looking for something. Some of them want to use you. La la. Some of them want to -'

Her impressively out of tune sing-song was interrupted when a knock on the door sounded out indicating her beloved boyfriend had arrived. With a slice of jammy toast in her hand, she walked down the hall and opened the door making sure that her expression made it completely clear she was still fuming with him. His face, however, clearly said that he was positively pleased with himself which both confused and annoyed Alex.

'I got you something' he beamed, his eyes continuously flitting between her face and down next to the door frame where she couldn't see.

'What is it?'

'Close your eyes' he instructed, eyes still flicking between her and the mysterious present.

'To be honest, I'm not in the mood for this sh-'

'Close you eyes!' Seeing that whatever it was he wanted to give her most definitely would involve her closing her eyes so that she could move on with the conversation, Alex relented and shut her eyes impatiently with a huff.

'What?' She sensed him bending down to pick up the something and could hear the scrape of fingers on a cardboard box.

'Move out the way, we need to get past' he sounded so pleased with himself and Alex felt her body being pushed lightly aside so that Peter could walk through to the living room, kicking the door closed behind him.

'Come on! Walk straight forward' she heard him call and she slowly walked towards his voice with her hands out before her so she didn't walk into any inconveniently placed walls.

'This is stupid' she moaned standing in what she was pretty sure was the doorway and crossing her arms across her chest.

'Okay, open' She did as instructed and her annoyance that she had felt disappeared as it was replaced with surprise. Peter was sat on her sofa in the middle of the living room with a massive grin on his face and a black and white kitten in his arms. The kitten looked from Peter to the room that it had found itself in. With large green eyes, it stared around trying to take in its strange new surroundings until it finally found Alex and stared at her.

'Her name's Molly. She's nearly six months old' Alex wasn't sure what to say. He'd seriously brought her a kitten?

'Come and meet her. She's yours' Yep. Apparently he had.

'I don't know if I can have a kitten, Pete' she told him. What the hell would her parents say? True, they did love cats and had always wanted a pet but they had always said that it would be inconvenient because they were always working and they moved around a lot; it wasn't fair to uproot a pet so often. Pete waved a hand dismissively.

'Yeah, you can. I phoned this morning and asked your Mum. She can't wait to meet her!' he scratched the cats head cheerfully, thrilled that he'd got her a present that he was sure she would love and cause her to forget the whole drive home.

'Oh' was all she managed to come out with, moving over to where the pair were sat to have a closer look at the cat in his arms.

'Her name's Molly' as she stood closer to him and Peter looked up to grin at her, Alex noticed that one of his eyes had what appeared to be a fresh dark ring around it. The kitten disappeared in her mind and she focused completely on the black eye that was still emerging.

'What's that?' she asked, leaning closer to him. She found herself sitting down next to him and pulling his face closer gently, examining the dark shadows under his eye. The smile faltered on his lips and he looked away from her eyes that he had been looking into.

'It's nothing'

'Pete...' it came out as more of a whisper than the scold that she had intended.

'It's nothing!' a little secret smile laced with bitterness formed 'Lets just say I walked into a door' Alex felt her heart drop and her stomach flip.

_Don't walk into any doors - I hear it can be painful ;)_

'Gene' the name came out in a horrified exhale and it was confirmed when Peter looked away from her again.

'When? _Why?' _Peter rolled his eyes.

'It doesn't matter, Ali. I'm a big boy' he looked at her as if he was annoyed she was asking him but a look wasn't going to stop her from finding out what the hell had happened.

'Yes it does. Tell me' Peter sighed.

'I saw him this morning and he said something about me scaring you so he'd scare me'' Peter told her dismissively and rolled his eyes. 'It's not as bad as it looks'

'I don't care if it looks like fairies and unicorns, he had no right!'

'Yeah well I told you that he was going to try and take you from me, didn't I' Peter told her, I-told-you-so written all over his face. Alex sighed and looked down at the kitten that had crawled into her lap and sat down as if she had known her for years. Alex absent mindedly stroked her dark fur as she tried to keep her breathing under control. She felt a soft finger on her chin and her face being brought up to look at him. His eyes were softer than she had seen for a while and she saw her lovely Peter again.

'Hey. Hey, it's alright. It doesn't matter. It's okay. You're worth it' he gave her a cheeky wink and Alex couldn't help the smile that formed on her lips before she looked down again, letting the silence stretch out between them as she thought of Gene punching Peter. She could feel the anger building in the pit of her stomach.

'He was completely in the wrong. Who is he to fight my battles for me?'

'Your battles? It was barely a _battle,_ was it' Peter scoffed lightheartedly. 'And anyway. It's forgotten now' Alex looked at him as if he were delusional.

'Forgotten? Maybe by you, Pete. But it's not forgotten by me. I'm livid. I still can't get over what you thought you were doing or what you thought you'd achieve by driving like a freaking manic!' Peter was clearly taken aback by her sudden sharp tone and snappy words, but he tried to look sincere and apologetic.

'I told you I was sorry. It won't happen again and yes, I know it was stupid but I honestly thought that Hunt had been texting you all night. You'd be pissed off aswell'

'No. No I wouldn't because I trust you. I think you'd better leave to be honest, Pete' Peter was clearly not expecting to be asked to leave and his mouth opened and closed much like a goldfish for a second before he seemed to find words. Standing up, he spoke.

'I'll leave, but can you just tell me if we're going to try work this out? Frankly, I'm fed up of all this on/off/on/off crap' he sounded more tired than she had expected him to sound and he made his way over to the door. Alex stood and followed him, Molly in her arms, sighing heavily.

'I don't know, Pete. You're not the person that I thought you were and there are times that I really don't like what I see. But then there are times that I'm crazy about you' she frowned trying to sort her thoughts out. Peter opened the front door as he reached it and then turned to talk to her.

'Tell me' was all he said, bluntly.

'We'll try' she told him, not wanting to let him go completely but not wanting to commit to a yes or a no whilst she was still so pissed off with him.  
Peter saw that she needed some time to sort her thoughts out and so just nodded.

'I'll see you later then, yeah?' Alex nodded this time, looking down at the floor and stroking Molly with one hand.

'Thanks for, you know. Her' she jiggled Molly a little and Peter smiled. He then leant forward to give her a soft kiss that she accepted and then shut the door behind him.

As Alex was left alone in the house once more (her parents had a tradition of going out for a morning coffee together every Sunday because it was their only day that they had free to spend some quality time together) she realised that she wasn't so alone anymore. She had been given a cat to keep her company. A cat. Yes, she was very nice and Alex could tell that she would quickly become attached to the little bundle of love her in arms, but a cat? It was a strange thing to buy someone as a 'sorry I could have killed you' present. The whole morning had been strange, to be honest. She had always told herself that she would never date someone who was so brutal and abrasive and she was starting to see that Peter was more sharp than he had first appeared to be. Alex had woken up that morning quite sure that she was going to break up with him and then go from there, but the side to Peter that she had seen had been a strange mix of the Peter that she really _really _liked and the Peter that she didn't like at all. And now she was here wondering what she was going to do again. She found herself making her way back into the living room where Peter had left her the cardboard box full of cat food and cat litter and little toys for Molly, but she ignored them all and sat down, stroking her silky fur. She had to admit it was nice to have someone there to just sit with. But then there was Gene. What did he think he was playing at punching Peter?! Acting all macho and thinking that Alex couldn't deal with her problems herself, needing the big bad boys to fight it out for her. She didn't know what she was more outraged at - Peters complete insensitivity or Genes show of machoness. Gene wasn't anything to do with Alex - he wasn't her boyfriend, he wasn't her brother or her bloody father, so why the hell would he feel it necessary to seek out someone who had upset her and put them straight?

And then she found the tiny voice in her head asking her; why did she care so much?

The qualities that she found herself loathing in Peter were qualities that Gene had expressed from the very first day she had met her. insensitivity? Check. Rude and bluntness? He had never been one to tiptoe around issues. Driving at ridiculous speeds? Always. But then again, he had never, not _once, _hidden these qualities from her. He hadn't given her the impression that he was charming and lovely, he had unapologetically been bold and abrasive, and over that they had formed a firm friendship. So perhaps it wasn't these characteristics in Peter that she was finding some loathsome? She had told herself that she would never like anyone who was like that, but then completely contradicted herself with her thoughts of Gene. Not that she would date him... Oh no way that would happen...

She was finding herself growing sick of her own thoughts and wanting to escape both Gene and Peter, but one of the big problems with your mind is that though you may be able to outrun practically anything if you go fast and far enough, you can never, ever escape your own thoughts.

As she realised that she had been sat in silence for far longer than she wished to, she tried to shake the boys out of her head and so came to two conclusions.

Peter. There were may things that she adored about the boy. But she didn't know if they were going anywhere. She didn't know if she _wanted _them to go anywhere... and that wasn't what good relationships were built on. Towards Peter she felt a lot of things, but love? No. Definitely not. She was _in like_ with Peter, but wasn't she in like with a lot of people?

And then there was Gene. She knew for sure that she was livid at him. How _dare_ he try to fight her battles for her as if she were too weak nd feeble to do so herself. And other than that? With Gene, she really _really _did not know how she felt. And it frustrated her more than anything she felt for Peter.

_TBC..._


	11. Shut Up and Kiss Me

**An Thank you all so much for the incredible support for this and welcome to the penultimate chapter! Thought are, as always, greatly appreciated so if you have time I'd love to hear what you think! **

**Enjoy! **

**MBRB'xoxo**

_It's a love hate relationship_**  
**

_You say you can't handle this. _

_But there's no way to stop this now. _

_So shut up and kiss me. _

_**Shut Up and Kiss Me - Orianthi**_

'Sounds to me like you're attracting trouble, missy' Annie giggle as she applied a thin line of liquid eyeliner to her top lash, expertly flicking it outwards at the edge. Shaz laughed as Alex gave a half amused half exasperated nod of agreement. Both of her friends had agreed that Peter had been very sweet to buy her the bizarre present of Molly but that he had been a total arsehole on all other counts. As she had tried to tell them her thoughts, she realised that she wasn't speaking very clearly and what she wanted to say was becoming jumbled and confused in much the same way that they did when she was thinking them, but she did get across very clearly that she had no bloody idea what was going on in her head and so her friends had tried to give her their opinions and then handed her a drink to help her try and forget the day and focus on the evening.

'Anyway, who's going to be there tonight?' Alex asked. She had been told that these events at the club were pretty popular and so expected it to be an allround good night, but she didn't know who it was that was actually going to be there.

'Pretty much everyone' Shaz shrugged, spraying herself with perfume from a deep burgundy bottle. Alex accepted her vague answer and carried on fiddling with her hair so that it fell it natural looking waves past her shoulders.

'Well as long as I don't see either of those bloody boys then I'll be okay' she told them, taking another sip from her vodka and orange juice. 'I don't think I'd be able to refrain from ripping out either of their throats' Annie and Shaz laughed. It was clear that their friend was in desperate need of a good night out to forget all her problems and they were only too willing to provide.

x-x-x-x

An hour and a half later, and Alex was feeling decidedly cheerier, dancing to the music that blasted through her and made her insides pump with the beat. The girls had finished getting ready as they drank so that they were on the comfortable side of drunk which would keep them buzzing for the evening. Annie, being able to buy drinks, snuck her friends drinks whenever she could and the three girls were enjoying the atmosphere of the evening. There was a nice blend of people that they did and didn't know so that they didn't feel like they were at a crappy school disco, nor did they feel completely isolated from any conversations. And to top it all; Alex had seen hide nor hair of either Peter or Gene. She only hoped that she would be able to say the same thing by the time the evening had ended.

'Here' she heard Annie say into her ear. Alex turned around from where she had been dancing with Shaz in the middle of the dance floor to see Annie holding out brightly coloured tube to each of them, well hidden from view by the throng of dancing teens.

'Test tube shots? Awesome' Shaz grinned, taking the red one from Annie and unscrewing the top then waiting for her friends to do the same.

'Yellow or blue?' Annie asked Alex, holding out one of each to her. Alex hadn't had this particular drink before and so blindly reached out for the blue one with a smile. One the count of three, each of them tilted their heads back and tipped the contents of their tubes into their mouths, swallowing quickly. Alex was pleasantly surprised at the taste of her shot, looking down at the tube to see that it was blueberry flavoured. Shaz seemed happy with the taste of hers, but Annie winced and coughed as she lowered the tube from her lips.

'Jesus, what the hell was that?' she grimaced, inspecting the yellow tube. 'Caffeine!? God, note to self; stay away from the yellow ones' she frowned. The girls threw the empty shots in Annies bag to get rid of them and continued dancing, refreshed by the buzz in the back of their throats by the extra shot of alcohol. As one song died away, Call Me Maybe replaced it and Alex rolled her eyes. She hated the flaming song, but when she had found that it didn't matter what was played when you were having a good time with your friends. Shaz bounced around next to her, taking her hand and lifting it above their heads, moving them from side to side in time with the music. Annie beamed at her friends, twirling her hands around her in a mesmerising pattern. Alex had quickly discovered that she loved the way Annie danced when they were out. It wasn't the typical way that every other girl around them danced, instead it was a strange mix of modern with a kind of hippie, sashaying twist; all graceful twisting hands and closed eyes as if she were becoming part of the music. She didn't know how to describe it, but whenever Annie got onto a dance floor, she attracted a lot of attention from guys for her beautiful and captivating movements. Alex wasn't sure how it was that people saw the way she danced but to be honest she didn't care. She loved the feel of the music pumping through her and she twirled under her and Shaz's joined hands then spun Shaz around so they were facing eachother again and allowed her hips to sway and her body to move as it wanted.

They danced for what seemed like forever, ignoring the people around them and simply enjoying eachothers company. Shaz and Annie could see that Alex was cheering up more and more, relaxing and forgetting the inner conflict that had been raging all day. Annie would wonder off occasionally, returning to the middle of the crowd with a drink in her hand or a couple of shots that she would hand around. Because of the steady supply of alcohol, Alex could feel herself tottering on the edge of drunk, eventually tipping ever-so-slightly over the line and throwing her head back with laughter as Shaz pointed out a particularly hideously dressed teen that had just walked in.

'I'm just gonna get some air' Annie yelled over the music, indicating the door and her friends nodded, following her through the sea of bodies and towards the fresh air that they could feel drifting through the entrance. Shaz and Alex giggled together as they followed Annie who was absorbed in her phone that she was looking at. As they reached the doorway, they walked past the couple of teens who were sat on the stone stairs smoking and laughing and then stopped. Annie finally looked up from her phone with a massive grin on her face.

'Sam's here' she told them both, clearly delighted that she'd be able to see Sam.

'Where?' Alex asked, glad that Annie seemed pleased.

'He said to meet him round the corner by the cash machine. You two gonna be okay if I go get him quickly? Be back in a minute' Shaz and Alex nodded their consent with confirmatory 'Of course's and 'yeah, go on's'. Annie smiled a thank you and walked away from them both to meet Sam.

'Reckon Chris'll be with him?' Shaz asked Alex, sitting down on a bench and leaning against the wall that it was next to. Alex gave Shaz a knowing smile and raised an eyebrow.

'And why, pray tell, would you want to know if Chris is going to be with him?' Shaz blushed a little, dropping her gaze to the floor.

'No reason' Alex gave a doubtful 'hmmm' and sat down next to her friend. 'I think he likes you too, you know' she eventually said. She had seen Shaz and Chris skirting around eachother for weeks and she wondered why they didn't just put an end to the waiting and get together already, but then perhaps barrelling into relationships wasn't the best way. Maybe that was where she had gone wrong. Shaz looked up at Alex shyly.

'You think?' Alex was about to reply that yes, of course 'she thought', but she was distracted by Annie, Sam and Chris that were coming towards the girls. Annie and Sam were holding hands, but both were looking at Chris and listening to what he was saying. But they only held Alex's attention momentarily as her eyes flicked to the figure that was behind them and her blood boiled.

''Scuse me' she mumbled to Shaz, standing up from where she was sat and pushing past the three figures between her and Gene.

'Evening, Misses Woman' Gene greeted her and then noticed the fury in her eyes and quickly decided that this was something that he didn't want to have to face with his friends watching on. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he steered her away from their curious eyes down the street a little and then down the mouth of a wide alley. The whole thing caught her by surprise and she found herself there before she had time to really protest. People were passing them coming to and from the club so it wasn't particularly private, but Gene didn't care who saw the argument that was clearly going to arise, as long as she didn't make a fool of herself in front of her closest friends.

'Where the _hell_ do you get off smashing peoples faces in?!' she finally began, furious at the man - boy? No that sounded wrong. Forget it - in front of her. 'Pete turned up at mine this morning with a black eye. _A black eye_. And he 'walked into a door'' she frowned, putting one hand on her hip and waving the other infront of her face. 'Like _anyone_ actually walks into doors, Gene. And oh, funny thing, you text me that very morning telling me to be careful of doors. Jeez, I'm not _stupid_. Two and two. Oh. Eighty-bloody-five?! Why didn't you tell me you were going to find Pete and beat him up on my behalf?' Gene, for the first time since she had started yelling at him looked like he was going to answer her, his mouth opening to form words, but whatever it was he was going to say was cut off by an angry thump to his chest and Alex continuing her angry rant, seemingly unaware that she had even asked a question.

'I'll tell you why, because you knew I'd go apeshit. You beat up one twat on my behalf and I idiotically let it slide because I thought you were doing it because he's a prick, not for some pathetic macho show. But then you give my _boyfriend_ a black eye and greet me with ' - she put on a deep 'Gene' voice which very nearly caused him to burst out laughing - 'Evening Misses Woman' and expect me to be like, 'Oh Hi Gene. You're not a wanker at all'' Gene stood listening to her, standing tall with his hands in his pockets and a blank expression on his face. God, this girl could talk. Her hands were flying around her to punctuate each point and he had thought that she'd belt him with one numerous times. If he had known that hitting Peter would cause him this much earache, he'd have passed him by when he had heard him badmouthing Alex that morning. Well, that was a lie. He'd have done it twice as hard to make up for the aggro he was getting now. Clearly she hadn't been told that part of the story though. People passing the alleyway looked at them as she screamed, muttering about what could have caused the argument. One teen gave Gene an amused wave as he passed which Gene acknowledged with a nod of his head. When he realised that she had paused for breath, her chest heaving in her clinging black dress, he sniffed haughtily looking just past her for a while before looking back down at the livid girl in front of him. A beat of silence and then;

'You coming to the match on Friday then?' Alex's jaw clenched at his words and her eyes flashed with annoyance. She took a small step towards Gene, tilting her head up towards him so that they were nose to nose and inches apart.

'You are the biggest prick I have ever, _ever_ met Gene Hunt. You think you're so impressive with your 'Captain' and your little followers calling you 'Guv'.' She raised an eyebrow and let her lips quirk, tilting her head every so slightly, letting out a tiny huff of bitter laughter. 'Well you're not. You're nothing. Nothing but a teenage boy who can't control his fists' Gene looked down at her not sure if he should be amused or annoyed so instead just ... looked. His silence confused Alex. She had been sure that they would be screaming at each other by now, words cutting deep and volume rising higher and higher. But instead she was faced with something completely unexpected; utter calmness. He was the image of defiance just as he always was, but he wasn't reacting in the way that she had thought, _wanted,_ him to. She had hoped that Gene would prove her right by screaming and yelling at her, confirming that he really was just a thug and that she was completely wrong about him having a well-hidden side that held a more sensitive and comforting Gene. She had meant every word she had said, her annoyance at both Gene and Peter pouring out into one almighty rant that she was no longer sure who it was directed at. She had expected nothing less than for Gene to stand there like a bloody concrete pillar, listening and doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just...taking it all. And that pissed her off more than anything because it meant that the part of her that _knew_ that Gene wasn't just a bully and an aggressive thug was creeping into her brain and giving her a very loud 'What did I tell you?!' speech which was causing the part of her that hated Gene to retreat and dwindle significantly. She found herself bringing her hands to the side of her head and stamping a foot in frustration, eventually looking back up to him.

'Do you know how much you've messed my head up? Do you?! Won't you leave me the hell alone? Get out of my mind and piss off to annoy someone else!' she released the sides of her head and watched as she brought her fists down on Gene's chest, pounding his torso once, twice, three times before he finally broke his stoney stance and grabbed her wrists, pulling them upwards so they were between them both, raised as if she were defending herself from him but she knew that he was so much stronger than her and she was completely under his control. She then felt her breath leave her body and she realised that she wasn't sure if it was caused by Gene having pushed her backwards so her back had hit the wall behind her, his hands still holding her wrists, or because of the fact his face now seemed so much closer to hers than it had before. She was pretty sure that it was the latter - she hadn't hit the wall with much force, certainly not enough to really force the air from her lungs, and his intensely close proximity really was rendering her completely breathless. Her wrists were now pinned against the cold brick wall either side of her shoulders and his eyes were piercing her, pinning her in place like a butterfly to a cork board far more effectively than his physical restraints did.

'Have you been drinking?' the question seemed completely out of the blue and she could feel his breath on her face making her skin tingle. All she could do was nod, her eyes flitting to his lips momentarily and she felt herself swallow and part her lips ever so slightly.

'You talk more shit when you're drunk than you do when you're sober' he spoke softer than she thought she had ever heard him speak and she was painfully aware of him moving closer to her. Finally, he could get no closer and his lips met hers, greeting her with the tiniest of kisses, just a feather touch that completely contrasted everything else about him. 'And I didn't even think that was possible' she felt the movement of his lips against hers as he spoke and then felt him increase the pressure as he finally moved forward and kissed her properly, moving expertly against her and drawing her into an earthshaking kiss, the likes of which completely blew Peter out of the water.

If there was one thing that Alex had been expecting less than for Gene to let her rant wash over him, it was for him to then pin her against a wall and kiss her until her knees grew weak. And if there was one thing Alex expected less than that to happen, it was for her to wriggle one of her wrists free from his grasp and wrap it around his neck, pulling him ever closer.

She wasn't sure how long they had been standing there; it could have been anything from a minute to half an hour, but their kiss was stopped as unexpectedly as it had started.

'You whore'

Alex recoiled from Gene like a wound spring and her eyes to Peter who was standing in the mouth of the alley, his arms crossed, jaw set and his head shaking from side to side slowly.

'Pete' his name tumbled from her lips in a gasp but he was already storming away from the pair and down the street towards the club. Alex turned to Gene with horror, her eyes welling with tears. Without saying anything, she turned from him and stepped forwards to make after Peter, but she felt Gene's hand catch her wrist yet again and turn her back towards him.

'Alex...'

'Let go, Gene' she spat. 'Let me _go' _with her last word, she brought the hand being held by him up and then slammed it downwards forcing him to release her. It struck Gene that she looked stronger now than he ever thought he had seen her; shoulders set solid and jaw set forward a little, oozing fury. Their eyes met and stared for a second before she ripped her glare from him and spun on her heels, leaving the alley in a flurry of skirt and hair.

'Pete. Wait!' She called after the retreating figure of her boyfriend. Peters pace didn't falter as he stomped away from her.

'Fuck off, Alex' he threw over his shoulder.

'Pete! It's not what it loo-'

'Not what it looked like?!' that seemed to grab his attention and Peter finally stopped, spinning round to face his girlfriend, clearly absolutely livid 'Because it looked like you had your tongue down Hunt's throat to me. How was that 'not what it looked like'?!' He screamed at her across the street to where she stood a couple meters away from him.

'Can we do this somewhere else? she asked, acutely aware that every drunk and sober teen around them had stopped to listen into the argument.

'We can do it _right _here, _right_ now' he yelled. 'Do you know how many people told me to stay the hell away from you?! One week into a new school and you already had a reputation as a slut. I really should have listened to them, shouldn't I?! Would have saved me a hell of a lot of aggro! Should have let Hunt have you from the start' She could see from the corner of her eye that a couple holding hands had actually stopped walking to see what was going on.

'Gene didn't want me from the start!' she felt her anger bubble, mixing with the alcohol that she had consumed, the argument not quite managing to sober her up.

'Well he clearly does now! He's welcome to you! The cheap slut and the macho bully of the school. You'll make a _fantastic _pair' Peter screamed, finally turning away from her and walking into the club through a cloud of smoke that was being emitted by the smokers by the door. Alex knew that she could either stand where she was and cry her eyes out at the pure humiliation of it all, or go and get smashed.

She chose the latter.

x-x-x-x

Seeing as she was unable to buy her own drinks because she was underaged and wouldn't be served, she walked into the throng of dancing bodies, swaying her hips more than she had before and raising her hands up above her head. As she had predicted, it wasn't long before a reasonably good looking boy came up to her, pressing himself against her back and swaying with her. She felt the urge to gag at his closeness, but plastered a smile on her face and turned to him, continuing to dance. From there, it was easy enough to motion that she wanted a drink and yell 'double vodka' at him and soon enough a small glass of clear liquid was placed in her hand. As soon as it was, she threw the sharp drink to the back of her throat, winced, and then began to walk away from the guy who had brought it for her. She felt him grab her arm and tried to shake him off, turning to shout at him but seeing one of the security guards instead. He held her wrist out to inspect and nodded, looking less than impressed.

'Didn't think so' he said at her lack of wristband which meant that she was over 18. 'Out you go' he pulled her to the door and shoved her out of it, leaving her on her own on the street. It had all happened so quickly that Alex was quite startled to find herself in the dark night without anyone. She'd lost track of Annie and Shaz when she had gone to speak to Gene and hadn't seen them since.

Gene. Oh god, what had she done? Well, she knew exactly what she'd done. She'd stopped lying to herself. Despite being completely humiliated by the way that they had broken up, it was a weight off her shoulders to find herself suddenly free from Peter and able to do what she wanted to with _who_ she wanted to. But still, it was a bit of a shock to the system and she found that the tears in her eyes were suddenly spilling over and running down her cheeks in silent sobs. Stumbling a little, she made her way over to a bench and slumped down, resting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. It felt like she had been crying forever when she felt someone sit down next to her and eyes land on her. Turning her head to the side slightly to glance at who it was, she wasn't too shocked to see that it was Gene; she could sense him from a mile away.

'Oh god, leave me alone Gene. You've already ruined my night' she climbed to her feet the best she could and started to walk away from Gene but he was a whole lot quicker than her, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her from leaving him .

'That's a nice thing to say after sharing a kiss with someone, Pricey. That's a really good chat up line' Alex spun and tried to bat him away from her but only succeeded in overbalancing and stumbling over her own feet. She didn't see Gene's eyeroll as he kept her upright and then bent down a little to pick her up in his arms.

'What're you doing. No. Stop. Stop it' she wriggled in his arms a little as he made his way towards his beloved red car but she soon stopped as she realised that she quite liked it where she was. He easily slipped her into the passengers seat and then climbed in his side, starting the engine. A thought suddenly struck Alex and she sat upright quickly, panic in her eyes

'No. _No. _You can't bring me home! Not like this. Fuck, Gene no stop. Wait' her words were a mess of worry and drunkerness but Gene just glanced over at her with amusement and shook his head.

'I'm not bringing you home, you daft tart. I'm bringing you to Annie's. That's where you're staying isn't it? I got her spare key off her earlier.' Alex felt a wave of peacefullness pass over her and she nodded, relaxing back into the seat again, her eyes drifting closed.

x-x-x-x

'Wakey wakey, Pricicle' She grumbled in protest against the light and being awoken. Through bleary eyes, she could see that she was in Annie's living room on one of her oh so comfortable sofas. Gene sat next to her, his coat taken off and slung to one side as he held a glass of water out to her.

'Drink this before you fall asleep again and choke on your own puke'

'Thanks for that' she moaned, sipping on the ice cold water that slid down her throat, refreshing her from the inside out. The pair sat in silence for a while as Alex continued to sip her drink and Gene watched her. Eventually she grew weary of the silence and looked over at him.

'Tonight was strange' she said with raised eyebrows. Gene let out a puff of laughter and nodded in agreement.

'That's one word for it'

'Why did you kiss me?' she blurted. She hadn't exactly been expecting the words to come out and clearly Gene didn't either, but she really needed to know. Gene seemed to consider it for a second and then shrugged.

'Because I've wanted to for ages' That was certainly not what Alex had expected to here and she dropped her gaze from him for a second, a very small blush creeping onto her cheeks. Not really sure what to say, she looked up at him again and a ghost of a smile crossed her lips.

'Still want to?' she whispered. Gene's response was a nod. A simple nod and a change in his position so that he was moving closer to her again, greeting her lips with another of his beautiful kisses that Alex was pretty sure she'd never get used to.

But boy would she like to try.

Time seemed to ebb and flow around them once more, becoming unimportant and insignificant and Alex found herself wondering why she hadn't surrendered herself to the thought of Gene earlier.

It wasn't until Annie and Shaz came stumbling in giggling that the couple realised that they were no longer alone.

'Seesh, not on my sofa!' Annie joked, throwing her keys at the living room table and missing spectacularly.

'About time!' Shaz yelled, rolling her eyes dramatically and then turning to Annie, falling a little as her sudden spin overbalanced her. 'I thought we were gonna make pasta?' she asked Annie who nodded and made their way to the kitchen to cook some drunkern food. Alex and Gene exchanged looks and after a moment of silence, Alex couldn't hold back the bubble of happiness forming in her stomach and collapsed against his chest with absolutely blissful laughter.

'Does this make me your new Peter then?' Gene asked her when her giggles had finally died away. Alex looked up at him shaking her head firmly no.

'Nu-uh. You're my new Gene. Is that okay?' she told him softly. Gene gave her the charming crooked smile that she loved so much.

'That's more than okay' he told her, snatching one more kiss before pulling her up to grab a plate full of the pasta Annie and Shaz were making, not letting go of her hand until it was absolutely necessary.

_TBC..._


	12. Heartbeat

**So here it is! The final chapter! **

**I would like to say a massive MASSIVE thank you to every single person who has read, reviewed, favourited and followed. It means so _so_ much and really is super appreciated. I didn't think this would get such a positive response and I am SO pleased that you're all seeming to like it! **

**Another HUGE thank you goes to Elle for being the perfect person to bat ideas around with and in a way, this fic is as much hers as it is mine. **

**So as always, I hope that you enjoy this final instalment of We Are Young. There may or may not be plans for a sequel... ;)**

**MBRB'xoxo**

_Doing all I can do just to be close to you_

_Every time that we meet, _

_I skip a heartbeat. _

_Always up for a laugh, _

_She's a pain in the arse. _

_Every time that we meet, _

_I skip a heartbeat_

_**Heartbeat - Scouting For Girls**  
_

'Good luck'

'Don't need it, Price. I've got a lucky charm' he told her, face impassive and shoulders back as Alex stood in front of him looking curious.

'Do not tell me that you have lucky boxers. You really don't seem the type' she giggled. Gene shook his head as Sam popped around the door of the boys changing rooms where the couple stood. Alex had, despite Gene's protests that she shouldn't be in there, snuck in to wish Gene good luck before the final rugby match of the season.

'Hurry up, Guv. They're waiting for you. Alright Alex?' he waved briefly at Alex and then left the room to get back to where the team were waiting for their captain. It didn't surprise him in the least that Alex had come into the changing rooms even though Gene had told the team as they were getting changed that he wouldn't let her if she did try. Try she had, and stopped her he hadn't. Sam had come to realise that Gene had finally met his match with Alex and it was something that they both seemed to thrive off. All the girls he had been with before were on the edge of simpering and submissive which was okay for a while, but Gene really needed someone who wouldn't take his bullshit and would say 'no' to him instead of 'yes Gene, of course Gene'. Alex was _certainly _able to defy Gene and do what the hell she wanted. In the week that they had been together, the group of friends had seen their fair share of arguments already - blazing rows that usually ended with one of them storming out of whichever room they were in and the other slamming around for what seemed like forever afterwards. The first time, there was speculation that their relationship wouldn't be able to handle the feisty argument that had just finished but it went as soon as it came and Gene had his arm around Alex's shoulder again as they sat discussing the weekend. The second time it had happened, there were a few raised eyebrows. The third time, they were just ignored. It was a strange relationship but it was one that worked so perfectly.

'Hey, Sam' Alex called after their friend as he ducked out of the room then turned back to Gene, running her hands up his arms and then resting her wrists on his shoulders, clasping her hands behind his neck and tilting her head to one side slightly.

'What's your lucky charm then?' she asked. Gene looked like he wasn't going to reply, instead just looked at Alex intently. She was wearing a pair of heeled boots so was pretty much his height and with her arms around his neck, the perfume sprayed on her wrist was filling his head. His plan was for him to not touch her for as long as possible to piss her off, but that little sly smile she was giving him made that impossible and his hands came to rest on her hips lightly.

'A posh mouthy tart with a head full of brains and the common sense of a grain weevil' Alex looked torn between indignation and amusement, her jaw dropping ever so slightly open and a puff of outrage escaping her.

'Maybe she'll abandon you so you lose then!' she teased, drawing her arms away from him and forcing her face into a stubborn pout. Gene let out the tiniest of laughs and shook his head.

'She won't' he said with such certainty. With his hands still on her hips, he held her tighter and pulled her body towards him, leaning forward to kiss her forcefully. The kiss took her by surprise and she stepped forward abruptly with the sudden pull forward, then felt her upperbody being pushed backwards with the force of his lips on hers. A hand came up to hold his cheek as she pushed back at him, their lips moving together momentarily before Gene pulled back from her.

'You're probably right' she told him. There was nothing that could stop her from watching the upcoming match and cheering Gene on the entire time, but he didn't need to know that she was so eager to see him win. Gene pecked her lips quickly again and then turned to walk out of the changing rooms.

'See you out there, lucky knickers' he winked at her and Alex smiled at Gene's back as he left.

x-x-x-x

'Know what's going on yet?' Phyllis asked Alex with an amused smirk on her face. She had been watching Alex for a while. Her face had been fixed in an absolutely delighted grin as the boys ran up and down the field. Alex turned to her with the same happy face.

'Not a clue!' she yelled over the rising cheers of the crowd as Sam raced past them with the ball. Phyllis shook her head and rolled her eyes at Alex who just laughed and turned back to the game just as the crowd erupted. She had missed how, but Sam had managed to get the ball over the line and a boy with blonde hair was now changing NMC's score on the board. Annie who stood next to Annie jumped up and down on the spot, thrilled that her boyfriend had scored some points - where they called points in rugby? - for the team.

As the game went on, the sky darkened more and more. It hadn't been the warmest of days from the very start, but they had hoped that the rain would hold off until the match was over at the very least.

It didn't.

What started out as a light shower soon turned into a full blown down pour, icy droplets landing sharply on the spectators. A couple of umbrellas went up but not many people had thought to bring one, so the crowds eventually began to thin as people decided that they didn't want to be out in the cold getting soaking wet for the sake of a rugby match. A break was called - was it called a break in rugby? - and there was a brief discussion as to if the game should continue, but both side remained firm that they would finish it and so off they went again. Within ten minutes they were all caked in mud and appearing to have the time of their lives. Alex,Annie Shaz Chris and Phyllis stayed firm, moving closer to the edge of the pitch as the crowds thinned, cheering and yelling louder than before to make up for the people who had left. It was freezing and the girls (and Chris) were getting absolutely drenched, but they all figured it was worth it.

x-x-x-x

'Well done!' Annie clapped as the boys came towards where the girls were sat in the school canteen with plastic cups of coffee cradled in their hands. They were all looking slightly less bedraggled and a whole lot cleaner now that they had been to the changing rooms, rinsed off some of the mud that they had been coated in and changed into some clean clothes. Chris beamed at Annie who shifted her seat over so that he could sit next to her.

'Yeah, well done boys! So that means you've won overall, yeah?' Alex asked, pleased at their victory. Sam laughed and shook his head in disbelief at her as Gene stood next to her looking completely appalled.

'Do you have the slightest idea what that whole game was about, Price?' he asked her. Alex tried to hide her smile. Putting on her deep 'Gene' voice, she spoke.

'You don't need to know what's going on, just come along and cheer' she imitated his words from the previous weeks and raised her eyebrows at him. Gene rolled his eyes and shoved her shoulder a little to tell her to move over so that he could sit down.

'Daft tart. But yes, it means that we won. See that whacking great cup?' he nodded towards the trophy Ray had placed in the centre of the round table they were all gathered around. 'That means that we _won' _his patronising tone amused their friends, but Alex didn't look too pleased. She brought her hands up as she tried to explain her apparently 'daft' question.

'Well I _know _that! I meant is that it for the season now, yeah? No more standing outside in the bloody rain and snow to watch you lot running up and down, up and down, up and down' she pointed to an imaginary mini Gene and followed him as he ran up and down a field. The real Gene grabbed her finger and hid it away in his own hand to stop her, twisting his fingers with hers and bringing them under the table to rest on her thigh comfortably.

'You're too gobby for your own good' Alex just widened her eyes with a smug smile, enjoying the feel of his hand around hers. She brushed her thumb lightly across his knuckles as she turned back to their friends who were all laughing at the new couple - all except Ray who was shaking his head at the Guv in disappointment. He, like nearly everyone else, had thought that his friend would never really be able to settle down with someone in a relationship that appeared to be not only mature, but for the long run. Ray and Gene had always been the ones who were after the ladies with a twinkle in their eye, looking to the next one before the last one had even disappeared from view. Then Alex Price had turned up at school with her nice arse and her fancy accent and everything had changed; Ray felt like he should be angry at her and dislike her for turning everything around, but he found that he couldn't be. He did like Alex despite his constant sexist jibes at her and it was nice to see Gene so happy. Sure, he tried to hide it and act like he was the miserable bastard that he had always been, but Ray knew him too well to fall for that, even if everyone else did.

'So are we going to go celebrate somewhere?' Shaz asked, looking around at their faces, waiting for a yay or nay.

'Can't I'm afraid' Phyllis piped up. 'I have a lovely young gentleman waiting for me to meet him down the pub' she told them, gathering her bag and standing up. Annie giggled, clearly knowing more about this 'lovely young gentleman' than the rest of the group did.

'Pub? It's only-' Ray glanced at his watch 'half 4!' Phyllis gave Ray a cheeky wink.

'It's never too early for a tipple, Raymondo' she told him. Alex, who was watching Ray closely, noticed him quickly cover his look of disappointment with a look or outrage and smiled a little to herself.

'Have fun, Phyl' Alex told her with a smile as Phyllis made her way out of the canteen with a little wave to all of her friends, a small smile playing on her lips.

'Well we could all go get a coffee or something?' Annie asked. The local Costa wasn't the fanciest of places but it was somewhere that they all tended to go when there was a serious lack of anything else to do.

'No need. Already got one' Alex heard Gene say next to her and turned to him, puzzled. Her puzzlement very quickly vanished as she saw that he had got a hold of her coffee without her realising and was sipping from it happily.

'Oi! Get your own' she frowned, reaching up to take it away from him. 'This was 45p, I'll have you know. Machine's right there' she nodded towards the coffee dispenser that stood in the corner of the canteen a couple of meters away from where they were sat. Gene looked at it and considered moving to get his own coffee for a second, then shook his head and shrugged.

'Too far' Shaz laughed and Annie and Alex exchanged a look of exasperation at their boyfriends as Sam gave a mumble of agreement.

'For a rugby captain, you're such a lazy shit' Alex scolded him, bringing the little plastic coffee cup to her lips and taking a sip, swallowing it and then grimacing.

'Ugh. This is barely luke warm' she frowned, looking at Gene questioningly as if it was his fault her coffee had gone cold.

'Don't mind if I have it then, do you' he gave her a superior grin, taking the cup from her hand and nodding towards the coffee machine. 'Machine's right there if you want a new one' he winked which earned him an unimpressed glare. Under the table where their fingers were still laced together, Gene gave her hand a small squeeze and lightly caressed the side of her palm with his thumb. The action made a jolt of electricity spark through Alex's stomach and she smiled softly at him, a look that Gene acknowledged with another wink - this time barely noticable - as he gulped down her cooling coffee. Turning back to the rest of the group, Alex gave an apologetic smile.

'Sorry, I can't anyway. I have to be getting home - Molly needs feeding' She received multiple eye rolls in reply and bit back a smile. She knew how her friends felt about her new acquired cat; most of them thought that she should get rid of it because it was something that Peter had pretty much dumped on her and then abandoned her with, but Alex just couldn't bring herself to do. She had grown attached to the little ball of fur and despite them all denying it, she knew that those who had met Molly did really love her. How could they not? She was a sweet little thing that changed opinions effortlessly. But whenever she mentioned that she had to cut something short to feed the kitten - whenever her parents were both at work - they would all roll their eyes in unison and start up a chorus of protests against the things existence.

'Yeah, yeah. I know. Shut up' she laughed, finally letting go of Gene's hand and standing up.

'I'll walk you home?' Gene asked her and she nodded with a smile. Sam wolf whistled cheerfully and Annie lightly slapped his arm, half-heartedly telling him to be quiet. Annie knew that Gene didn't really like showing affection in public and she had been surprised that he had been seen doting on Alex at all. He rarely kissed her in public and it wasn't common for _him_ to be the one to take her hand when they were on the street, but when he did she could see that he did it without really thinking - absent-mindedly running a hand down her arm and twining their fingers together or pecking her temple when he thought noone was really watching them. Alex didn't really seem too bothered at his lack of public affection. She had known from the start that he wasn't going to be buying her big bouquets of roses and presenting them to her in front of the entire school, and she was happy with that. It was the small things that he did which made her happier than any bunch of flowers ever could. Things like holding her hand under a table or offering to walk her home.

'See you later, guys' she waved goodbye to the group and then made her way towards the double doors that marked the exit to the canteen. Without really realising what the other was doing, Alex and Gene both forcefully pushed open one of the swinging doors each, walking through them in unison. Alex looked over at Gene who had also spotted that they had just made what would be, if they were in a cop show or something, a pretty dramatic exit. A small trickle of laughter fell from her lips and Gene rolled his eyes,

'Shut up, Lady' he told her with an eye roll which made Alex laugh even more and reach over to take his hand. Missing the contact since they had been in the canteen, he took it.

'How badass was that though' she giggled, swinging their joined hands happily as they made their way out of the school gates and past the dribs and drabs of people that had hung around after the match to wait to be picked up etc. Crossing a road and heading down one of the short cuts that Alex had found, they walked in content silence for a while. The rain had stopped whilst they had been in the canteen and now there was just a chilly wind that occasionally whistled past and picked up Alex's hair, throwing it around her face.

'Do you ever pick a day that's not windy to play a match on?' she asked, remembering that it had been pretty windy the last time he had walked her home from a rugby game. So much had changed since then and she couldn't keep a little smile from forming.

'Yup. I do it so that I can lend dozy cows my scarf' he raised his eyebrows, looking pointedly at the scarf he had leant her which was wrapped around her neck and tucked into her fitted coat.

'I brought it so that I could give it back, actually. But then it got cold and I knew you wouldn't want me to freeze' Gene looked like he didn't believe a word she was saying and Alex gave him an appalled look at his obvious disbelief. She suddenly stopped walking and let go of his hand bringing it up to join the other that was now busy unwrapping the scarf from around her. She pulled it from her and held it out to Gene, one hand now on her hip. Gene looked pretty surprised at her sudden change of tactics but just stood facing her and shook his head.

'It looks better on you, Pricicle' he was pouting again, his hands now shoved in his pockets. Alex shook her head and laughed. She wasn't going to give up on this one and so reached up to wrap the scarf around his neck herself but Gene pulled out of her reach by stepping to the left a little. The alley way that they were in was on a slope with a tall hedge on one side and a taller fence on the other. Where they had come from had a sharp right which put them out of view of the road and street, and there was a gradual bend to the right up ahead so they were in an isolated stretch of alley.

'Guv. Stop complaining and take it back! It's not even really cold any more. I'll be fine' she stepped towards him quickly in an attempt of catching him off guard but it didn't work and Gene just stepped forward diagonally so that they were now level with each other.

'Keep it. I don't want it now. It'll smell like you and I'll look like a right poofter' he moaned, frowning a little at the thought of friends thinking that he smelled like his girlfriend. Alex noticed the ever so slightly raised corner of his mouth that indicated that he was kidding and sighed.

'Well people will think _I_ smell like _you_ and then they'll think I'm unhygienic and have manstink' she crinkled her nose at the thought.

'You love my manstink. It makes your knees quiver'

'Oh yeah?' Alex teased as Gene took a step towards her which Alex responded to by taking a step backwards, finding herself cornered due to the fence that her back had hit.

'Yeah' Gene nodded with another step. His hands reached down to take the scarf from her and she watched as he brought it up to tie it around her neck again. As he draped it around her neck though, he stopped and looked at her pressed against the wooden fencing with one eyebrow raised and a sly smile tugging at her lips. The playful atmosphere that had surrounded them suddenly seemed very different, like it had shifted and evolved into something far more intimate which they were both acutely aware of.

'Oh yeah?' she asked him again, dropping her voice to almost a whisper. Gene, his task of tying the scarf forgotten, nodded. The small action of her eyes flicking to his lips and then back again were all the encouragement he needed, his hands moving from the scarf wrapped around her so that one landed on her cheek and the other on the back of her neck, pulling her towards him.

Their lips met gently, far from the short forceful kiss that Gene had given her in the changing rooms. This kiss was something far more delicate. They moved together, Alex bringing one hand up to run through Gene's hair and the other running up and down his back slowly, feeling his back and shoulder muscles through the fabric of the rugby shirt he had on. It struck her that it wasn't often he was wearing something other than a rugby top but she quickly decided that she liked it almost as much as she liked the way that he kissed her. Gene wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her towards him so that the length of her body was flush against him and then stepped towards her a little more so that she was pushed back against the fence, completely trapped. With her eyes closing of their accord, she caught his bottom lip between her teeth, tugging ever so gently then releasing it causing Gene to reciprocate by tracing his tongue lightly against her asking for entrance which she happily granted. He could feel the remnants of her rose lipstick on his tongue and tasted it briefly before it was gone, replaced by the taste of Alex herself. His breath flowed from his mouth into hers, working its way deep into her lungs and she found the idea incredibly sensual, her heartbeat picking up at the thought of it and her hands increased their pressure, her lips becoming more insistent on his. Gene could feel the beating of his heart against his chest and tugged her closer to him by the hand around her waist momentarily before dropping slightly and tracing the curve of the small of her back and then down to the arse that he teased her about so often. The kiss gradually slowed and Alex, with one last gentle bite of his lip pulled away. Her eyes fluttered open slowly, fixed on his lips and then slowly raising to his eyes which were studying her closely.

'Well...' she whispered, not wanting to shatter the tension that engulfed them. She moved her arms up so that they were rested on his shoulders, her wrist crossed behind his neck loosely.

'Well' Gene repeated, the corner of his lips turned up and his eyes shining.

'We best get you home, Little Lady. That cat of yours will be wondering why it's being neglected' Alex set her jaw in a mock annoyed look and slapped his arm lightly, unwrapping her arms from around him.

'I'll have you know it's not my fault! A strange man jumped on me down a dark, dingy alleyway' she told him with a look of superiority. Gene let out a small puff of laughter, moving his hand from around her waist to where her hand hung by her side. His action of lacing his fingers with her made her grin broadly, pride fluttering in her heart.

'You should stay away from strange men down dark alleys, you know. You can never tell when they're psychopaths or just nice guys after a fruitcake' Gene pretended to scold her. Alex laughed and they began to slowly make their way round the corner and towards the end of the alley.

'True, true. You make a good point. But you see, I can't stay away from this one' she frowned with a sigh. Gene shot her a glance out of the corner of his eye.

'And why's that?' he asked her, genuinely interested in what her answer would be.

'I'm sort of already a little bit crazy about him' she admitted. 'And he's sort of already my boyfriend' Alex shrugged her shoulders at him with a 'what can I do about it? what's done is done' look and Gene laughed, letting go of her hand and wrapping it around her waist instead, pulling her to him.

'That's good' he said matter-of-factly. Alex looked up at him as they walked.

'And why's that?' she asked, copying him. Gene pressed a soft kiss to her temple, his lips lingering there for a second too long before replying.

'Because he's sort of already a bit crazy about his girlfriend too' he told her gently in her ear. His fingers traced an absent minded pattern on her hip lightly as Alex's stomach flipped and she gave him a shy but beautiful grin.

'Good' she whispered, giving him a quick gentle kiss before looking ahead again, feeling more at home with Gene's arm wrapped around her waist than she had done since she had left London.

As they exited the alley and made their way down the street and past a park, they saw a dark haired boy with a fire-engine red haired girl draped over him. Peter watched Alex and Gene pass with his eyes narrowed. Judy chatting away in his ear about something or other that he just couldn't bring himself to focus on and he felt a pang of jealousy pass through him at the sight of them. Neither of the couple acknowledged Peter, but they were both acutely aware of his eyes on them as the 'town whore' and the 'school bully' walked past him, throwing their labels away behind them and concentrating on who and what they really were;

Alex and Gene. A couple.

_Fin._

**_For now..._**


End file.
